lew round and rushed swiftly past the dangerous spot into wider
waters. It is just here that Captain Trivett was knocked off the
bridge of his vessel by the boughs--a mishap he warned Tom against
before we left England.

Whilst in the Narrows we looked back, to see everything bright and
cheerful, but ahead all was black and dismal: the sky and sun were
obscured, the tops of the mountains hidden, and the valleys filled up
with thick fog and clouds--all which seemed to indicate the approach
of a storm of rain, although the glass was still very high. We went up
South Reach and North Reach, in the Messier Channel, till, just as we
were off Liberta Bay, in lat. 48 deg. 50' S., long. 74 deg. 25' W., the
blackest of the black clouds came suddenly down upon us, and descended
upon the deck in a tremendous shower--not of rain, but of _dust_ and
_ashes_. Windows, hatches, and doors were shut as soon as we
discovered the nature of this strange visitation, and in about half
an hour we were through the worst of it: whereupon dustpans, brooms,
and dusters came into great requisition. It took us completely by
surprise, for we had no reason to expect anything of the sort.
Assuming the dust to be of volcanic origin, it must have travelled an
immense distance; the nearest volcano, as far as we know, being that
of Corcovado, in the island of Chiloe, nearly 300 miles off. We had
heard from Sir Woodbine Parish, and others at Buenos Ayres, of the
terrible blinding dust-storms which occur _there_, causing utter
darkness for a space of ten or fifteen minutes; but Buenos Ayres is on
the edge of a river, with hundreds and thousands of leagues of sandy
plains behind it, the soil of which is only kept together by the roots
of the wiry pampas grass. For this dust to reach the Messier Channel,
where we now are, it would have to surmount two chains of snowy
mountains, six or seven thousand feet in height, and in many places
hundreds of miles in width, and traverse a vast extent of country
besides.

The weather was still so fine, and the barometer so high--30.52
inches--that Tom determined to go to sea to-day, instead of stopping
at Hale Cove for the night, as we had originally intended. Directly we
got through the English Narrows, therefore, all hands were busily
engaged in once more sending up the square-yards, top-masts, &c., and
in making ready for sea. Just before sunset, as we were quitting the
narrow channels, the sun pierced through the cloud