He Opened His Mouth To Show His Teeth, And Turned
His Face For A Side View; And All This Was Done With Such
Alacrity, That I Dare Say He Thought Himself The Handsomest
Man In Tierra Del Fuego.
After our first feeling of grave
astonishment was over, nothing could be more ludicrous
than the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which these
savages every moment exhibited.
The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into the
country. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainous
land, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inlets
and bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. The
mountain sides, except on the exposed western coast, are
covered from the water's edge upwards by one great forest.
The trees reach to an elevation of between 1000 and 1500
feet, and are succeeded by a band of peat, with minute alpine
plants; and this again is succeeded by the line of perpetual
snow, which, according to Captain King, in the Strait of
Magellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet. To find
an acre of level land in any part of the country is most rare.
I recollect only one little flat piece near Port Famine, and
another of rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In both
places, and everywhere else, the surface is covered by a
thick bed of swampy peat. Even within the forest, the
ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetable
matter, which, from being soaked with water, yields to the
foot.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 322 of 776
Words from 86320 to 86575
of 208183
