bourhood. After I had taken the necessary bearings, we
proceeded round the east end of Burnt Island, and over to what we judged to
be the main of Terra del Fuego, where we found a very fine harbour
encompassed by steep rocks of vast height, down which ran many limpid
streams of water; and at the foot of the rocks some tufts of trees, fit for
little else but fuel.[1]

This harbour, which I shall distinguish by the name of the Devil's Bason,
is divided, as it were, into two, an inner. and an outer one; and the
communication between them is by a narrow channel five fathoms deep. In the
outer bason I found thirteen and seventeen fathoms water, and in the inner
seventeen and twenty-three. This last is as secure a place as can be, but
nothing can be more gloomy. The vast height of the savage rocks which
encompass it, deprived great part of it, even on this day, of the meridian
sun. The outer harbour is not quite free from this inconvenience, but far
more so than the other; it is also rather more commodious, and equally
safe. It lies in the direction of north, a mile and a half distant from
the east end of Burnt Island. I likewise found a good anchoring-place a
little to the west of this harbour, before a stream of water, that comes
out of a lake or large reservoir, which is continually supplied by a
cascade falling into it.

Leaving this place, we proceeded along the shore to the westward, and found
other harbours which I had not time to look into. In all of them is fresh
water, and wood for fuel; but, except these little tufts of bushes, the
whole country is a barren rock, doomed by nature to everlasting sterility.
The low islands, and even some of the higher, which lie scattered up and
down the sound, are indeed mostly covered with shrubs and herbage, the soil
a black rotten turf, evidently composed, by length of time, of decayed
vegetables.

I had an opportunity to verify what we had observed at sea, that the sea-
coast is composed of a number of large and small islands, and that the
numerous inlets are formed by the junction of several channels; at least so
it is here. On one of these low islands we found several huts, which had
lately been inhabited; and near them was a good deal of celery, with which
we loaded our boat, and returned on board at seven o'clock in the evening.
In this expedition we met with little game; one duck, three or four shags,
and about that number of rails or sea-pies, being all we got. The other