But we viewed these grand mountains with
regret, for we were obliged to imagine their nature and
productions, instead of standing, as we had hoped, on their
summits. Besides the useless loss of time which an attempt to
ascend the river any higher would have cost us, we had already been
for some days on half allowance of bread. This, although really
enough for reasonable men, was, after a hard day's march, rather
scanty food: a light stomach and an easy digestion are good things
to talk about, but very unpleasant in practice.
MAY 5, 1834.
Before sunrise we commenced our descent. We shot down the stream
with great rapidity, generally at the rate of ten knots an hour. In
this one day we effected what had cost us five and a half hard
days' labour in ascending. On the 8th we reached the "Beagle" after
our twenty-one days' expedition. Every one, excepting myself, had
cause to be dissatisfied; but to me the ascent afforded a most
interesting section of the great tertiary formation of Patagonia.
On March 1st, 1833, and again on March 16th, 1834, the "Beagle"
anchored in Berkeley Sound, in East Falkland Island. This
archipelago is situated in nearly the same latitude with the mouth
of the Strait of Magellan; it covers a space of one hundred and
twenty by sixty geographical miles, and is a little more than half
the size of Ireland.
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