orest, chiefly of beeches. Viewing the stunted natives on the
west coast, one can hardly conceive that they are fellow-creatures and
inhabitants of the same world; and I believe that in this extreme part
of South America man exists in a lower state of improvement than in any
other part of the globe. The zoology of Tierra del Fuego is very poor.
In the gloomy woods there are few birds, but where flowers grow there
are humming birds, a few parrots and insects, but no reptiles.

_IV.--The Wonders of the Cordilleras_

After encountering many adventures in these Antarctic seas, among which
was a narrow escape from shipwreck in a fierce gale off Cape Horn, and
amidst hitherto unexplored Antarctic islands, the Beagle set a course
northward in the open Pacific for Valparaiso, the chief seaport of
Chile, which was reached on July 23, 1834. Chile is a narrow strip of
land between the Cordilleras and the Pacific, and this strip itself is
traversed by many mountain lines which run parallel to the great range.
Between these outer lines and the main Cordilleras a succession of level
basins, generally opening into each other by narrow passages, extend far
to the southward. These basins, no doubt, are the bottoms of ancient
inlets and deep bays such as at the present day intersect every part of
Tierra del Fuego.

From November, 1834, to March, 1835, the Beagle was employed in
surveying the island of Chiloe and the broken line called the Chonos
Archipelago. This archipelago is covered by one dense forest, resembling
that of Tierra del Fuego, but incomparably more beautiful. There are few
parts of the world within the temperate regions where so much rain
falls. The winds are very boisterous, and the sky almost always clouded.
Fortunately, for once, while we were on the east side of Chiloe the day
rose splendidly clear, and we could see the great range of the Andes on
the mainland with three active volcanoes, each 7,000 feet high.

While at Valdivia, on the mainland, on February 20, 1835, the worst
earthquake ever recorded in Chile occurred, and it was followed for
twelve days by no less than 300 tremblings. A bad earthquake at once
destroys our oldest associations; the earth, the very emblem of
solidity, has moved beneath our feet like a thin crust over a fluid. One
second of time has created in the mind a strange idea of insecurity
which hours of reflection would not have produced. The most remarkable
effect was the permanent eleva