Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/111



total absence of roads through the country, and the uncertain state of feeling towards Europeans which the natives had begun to manifest, prevented our officers from penetrating to any considerable distance into the interior; the native paths through the woods and swamps being quite impracticable without the assistance of guides, and under existing circumstances it was hardly safe for any Europeans to place themselves so completely in the power of the natives, who might, at any time, leave them in a situation from which it would be utterly impossible to extricate themselves, or find a way through the perplexing labyrinth in which they might become helplessly involved.

Fortunately our occupations demanding our attention so constantly, prevented our feeling any regret that the nature of the country opposed so serious a barrier to any researches we might have desired to make, for nothing could be more uninviting than its appearance from the ships and the neighbouring hills; the gently undulating surface covered almost entirely with fern, gave it an uniformity and sterility of aspect which the few clumps of trees, with which it was varied, served only to render the more remarkable, whilst the thickly interwoven underwood made travelling