To the west and north of us were numerous islands clustering together, of various sizes, with deep channels between them, most of them consisting of rocky mountains, often rising in perpendicular precipices from the ocean, and shooting upwards to a vast height in towering peaks and rugged crags, untrod by the feet of man or beast.  Along the shores of these numerous isles and islets are gulfs and bays, and coves and creeks without number, often with level ground in their neighbourhood producing a somewhat rich vegetation, and forming a great contrast to the terrifically wild and barren tracts which are the chief characteristics of the region.  Bold, precipitous headlands, with dark barren elevations behind them, appeared on our right as we skirted the northern shores of the straits.  We made Cape Good Success, and a little way beyond it, crossed abreast of the mouth of Spaniards' Harbour, into which rolls the whole set of the South Atlantic.  Then standing on till near the entrance of the Beagle Channel, up which a little way lies Picton Island, we stood away towards Cape Horn, so as to steer close round it into the Pacific.  Captain Frankland had often been here, and had once brought up in a harbour for many days from bad weather, when he had surveyed many of the passages in his boats.  I was below; Gerard rushed into the cabin.