- One side of the harbour is formed by a
hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called
after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous
excursion, which proved fatal to two men of his party, and
nearly so to Dr. Solander.
The snow-storm, which was the
cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January,
corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!
I was anxious to reach the summit of this mountain
to collect alpine plants; for flowers of any kind in the lower
parts are few in number. We followed the same water-course
as on the previous day, till it dwindled away, and we
were then compelled to crawl blindly among the trees.
These, from the effects of the elevation and of the impetuous
winds, were low, thick and crooked. At length we reached
that which from a distance appeared like a carpet of fine
green turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out to be a
compact mass of little beech-trees about four or five feet
high. They were as thick together as box in the border of
a garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat but
treacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gained
the peat, and then the bare slate rock.
A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some
miles, and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lying
on it. As the day was not far advanced, I determined to
walk there and collect plants along the road.
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