At this end of the Straits they terminate in
peaks, resembling Gothic spires, carved in the purest snow; truly
'virgin peaks,' on which the eye of man has but seldom rested, and
which his foot has never touched. They are generally veiled in clouds
of snow, mist, and driving rain, and it is quite the exception to see
them as distinctly as we now do.
After leaving Mayne's Channel, and passing through Union and
Collingwood Sounds, we found ourselves beneath the shadow of the
splendid Cordilleras of Sarmiento--quite distinct from Mount
Sarmiento, already referred to--along the foot of which extended the
largest glacier we have yet seen.[5] With Tarleton Pass on our right
hand, and Childer's Pass on the left, we came in sight of Owen's
Island, one extremity of which is called Mayne Head, and the other
Cape Brassey, these places having all been so named by Captain Mayne,
during his survey in the 'Nassau,' in 1869. Near the island of
Esperanza, the clouds having by that time completely cleared away, and
the sun shining brightly, we had a splendid view of another range of
snowy mountains, with Stoke's Monument towering high in their midst.
The numerous floating icebergs added greatly to the exquisite beauty
of the scene. Some loomed high as mountains, while others had melted
into the most fanciful and fairy-like shapes--huge swans, full-rigged
ships, schooners under full sail, and a hundred other fantastic forms
and devices.
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