. The Spanish-American republics . ven totheir topmost branches, so abundant is the moisture, are infested witha luxuriant parasitic growth of moss and lichens. The undergrowthis composed of low-growing shrubs with hard varnished leaves, varie-ties of myrtle, a small-leaved berry-bearing plant called chaura, a plantwith a pale-green prickly leaf like holly and a delicate carmine bellflower tipped with white, and a beautiful plant of the azalea family,with an exquisite rose-colored bell flower with golden petals. In thisvirgin paradise the only living things to be seen are otters, colibris, 244
. The Spanish-American republics . ven totheir topmost branches, so abundant is the moisture, are infested witha luxuriant parasitic growth of moss and lichens. The undergrowthis composed of low-growing shrubs with hard varnished leaves, varie-ties of myrtle, a small-leaved berry-bearing plant called chaura, a plantwith a pale-green prickly leaf like holly and a delicate carmine bellflower tipped with white, and a beautiful plant of the azalea family,with an exquisite rose-colored bell flower with golden petals. In thisvirgin paradise the only living things to be seen are otters, colibris, 244 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. white geese, black ducks, and gulls. Occasionally a hugeswoops overhead, and in some of the creeks are penguins and The evening in MolyneuxSound left in our minds de-lightful memories. The sun setin golden splendor in the wind-swept sky, the stars shone forth,and the moon rose in the heav-ens, shedding a long train ofshimmering light over the water,whose mirror-like surface reflect- MOLYNEUX SOUND. ed in deep black shadows the surrounding islands and hills and thelight cloud forms that hung above among the stars, each of which hadits golden counterpart in the still water. Happily the icy south windthat blew so sharply in the afternoon did not reach us in this shelteredanchorage; but still the night was bitterly cold. The next morning we started at three oclock, and passed throughthe fine scenery of the Guia Narrows, the grand landscape of the Vic-tory Pass and of the Sarmiento Channel, with its imposing peaks, be-hind which rises the towering snowy Cordillera of the main continent. SMYTHS CHANNEL AND THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 245 The transparency of the atmosphere was extreme, and at a great dis-tance we could see every wrinkle and vein in the snow fields, andevery thread-like rivulet that fissured the rocks and precipices. we anchored off Long Island—latitude 520 2c/ south—in a broadsmooth bay, and after dinner we orga
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