deep that no anchorage could be found. We were in consequence obliged to stand off and on in this narrow arm of the sea, during a pitch-dark night of fourteen hours long.
June 10th.—In the morning we made the best of our way into the open Pacific. The Western coast generally consists of low, rounded, quite barren hills of granite and greenstone. Sir J. Narborough called one part South Desolation, because it is "so desolate a land to behold:" and well indeed might he say so. Outside the main islands, there are numberless scattered rocks on which the long swell of the open ocean incessantly rages. We passed out between the East and West Furies; and a little farther northward there are so many breakers that the sea is called the Milky Way. One sight of such a coast is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril, and death; and with this sight we bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego.
The following discussion on the climate of the southern parts of the continent with relation to its productions, on the snowline, on the extraordinarily low descent of the glaciers, and on the zone of perpetual congelation in the antarctic islands, may be passed over by any one not interested in these curious subjects, or the final recapitulation alone may be read. I shall, however, here give only an abstract, and must refer for details to the Thirteenth Chapter and the Appendix of the former edition of this work.
On the Climate and Productions of Tierra del Fuego and of the South-west Coast.—The following table gives the mean temperature of Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and, for comparison, that of Dublin:—
| Latitude. | Summer Temp. | Winter Temp. | Mean of Summer and Winter. | |
| Tierra del Fuego | 53° 38'S. | 50° | 33°·08 | 41°·54 |
| Falkland Islands | 51 30 S. | 51 | — | — |
| Dublin | 53 21 N. | 59 ·54 | 39 ·2 | 49 ·37 |
Hence we see that the central part of Tierra del Fuego is colder in winter, and no less than 9nd° less hot in summer, than Dublin. According to Von Buch the mean temperature of July (not the hottest month in the year) at Saltenfiord in Norway, is as high as 57°.8, and this place is actually 13° nearer
