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lar<re, and just on wliat might he called neutral ground between
the“ two tribes, it is not unlikely that there may have been
many a meeting there-perhaps many a battle. _ At the separation,
or meeting of the two channels, it was high water at a
quarter before five this morning, and the flood came from the
west, about a knot an hour; the ebb-tide set to the west at
about half that strength. Much drift-wood and large fragments
of ice were carried along with it. Between some of the moim-
tains the ice extended so widely as to form immense glaciers,
which wei-e faced, towards the water, by lofty cliff's. During a
beautifully fine and still night, the view from our fireside, m
this narrow channel, was most striking, though conhned.
Thickly-wooded and very steep mountains shut us in on three
sides, and opposite, distant only a few miles, rose an immense
harrier of snow-covered mountains, on which the moon was
shinino- brightly. The water between was so glassy, that their
outline might he distinctly traced in i t : hut a death-hke sti 1-
ness was sometimes broken by masses of tee falling from the
opposite glaciers, which crashed, and reverberated aronnd-like
eruptions of a distant volcano.
“ 10 Before daylight this morning, we were on our oars;
and by the time the sun was high enough for observing, were
many miles westward of our resting-place. After sights, while
the men were cooking, I obtained a few bearings, and prepared
to return, not intending to go further westward. I saw water
from that spot, more than twenty miles to the west (by compass)
• and then mv view was limited by the channel turning
towards the south! In those twenty miles, not the slightest
appearance of an opening to the northward could be seen;
mountain succeeded mountain, in unbroken succession Ihree
ridges, or ranges, could be traced, lying parallel to each other;
and the nearest summits of those in the third, or furthest range,
stretching from the northward and eastward of me, and continuing,
as far as eye could reach, towards the north and west,
were at least five leagues distant. Their height I supposed to
he about four thousand fe e t: that of those nearest to me, about
two thousand: and of those in the middle range, mentioned
just now, about three thousand. At a distance;, the channel
appeared to trend to the southward of west, and there the sides
of the mountains seemed to be very bare, and weather-beaten,
while near me they were covered with wood. This led me to
conclude that farther westward they were open to the sea
winds, and that there the channel ended. By the observations, I
found that we were* nearly in the longitude of Christmas
Sound, and in latitude 54° 54' S., being therefore twenty miles
south of the end of Admiralty Sound, but considerably to the
westward of it. This position, and the bearings and estimated
distances, showed me that the other arm of this long channel
opened near the spot where Mr. Murray laid down (near the
head of Christmas Sound) a ‘ channel, running to the eastward,
beyond eyesight; ’ and that the branch in which I was
must lead towards the bay or sound to the N.W. of Christmas
Sound, at the base of very high land, which Mr. Murray laid
down as ‘ an unbroken range of snow-covered mountains.’ The
time of high water in this channel exactly corresponded with
that on the adjacent sea-coast, but did not nearly agree wit
that of the Strait of Magalhaens. These facts, and the appearance
of the land, removed every doubt in my mind of the
existence of an unbroken chain of mountains, reaching from the
Barbara Channel to the Bell Mountain, and I therefore decided
to spend no further time in searching thereabouts for a passage
northward, but make aU haste to examine the exterior shores.
“ The channel here was about a mile wide, but the mountains
on each side rising so abruptly, made it appear much
narrower. It might be a good passage for a ship to sail
through, from the westward, were it not for the trouble and
anxiety of getting in with the land at the right place; and
that a ship might sail on her course, in the open sea, by
night as well as by day ; but here she could hardly choose to
run at night, because there are a few low islets, near midchannel,
in some parts. For a boat, in case of shipwreck, or
other urgent reason, it might be convenient: but going through
to the westward would be very difficult, because it would be
* In longitude 69.20. W.