But
our hero had no idea of doing any thing of the sort. Having shaken off his
leech, he had no wish to suffer it to fasten to him again. It was solely
with the intention of making sure of this object that he thought of making
a harbour.
In order that the reader may better understand those incidents of our
narrative which we are about to relate, it may be well to say a word of
the geographical features of the region to which he has been transported,
in fiction, if not in fact. At the southern extremity of the American
continent is a cluster of islands, which are dark, sterile, rocky, and
most of the year covered with snow. Evergreens relieve the aspect of
sterility, in places that are a little sheltered, and there is a meagre
vegetation in spots that serve to sustain animal life. The first strait
which separates this cluster of islands from the main, is that of
Magellan, through which vessels occasionally pass, in preference to going
farther south. Then comes Tierra del Fuego, which is much the largest of
all the islands. To the southward of Tierra del Fuego lies a cluster of
many small islands, which bear different names; though the group farthest
south of all, and which it is usual to consider as the southern
termination of our noble continent, but which is not on a continent at
all, is known by the appropriate appellation of the Hermits.
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