March was at n . N . w ., with fair and pleafant weather; the thermomei,
j ter from 66 to 68, and the variation of the compafs xg° 42' eaftwardly.
Having now got to the northward of Valparaifo, our courfe was fo ordered
as to preferve that fituation. This however proved to he a very
unneceffary precaution, as towards midnight,. .in latitude 320 51', the
wind, after becoming light and variable, was fucceeded by a frelh breeze
at fouth, that feemed to be equally fteady and fixed in its direfition as
the northerly wind had been before; fo that we had now again to haul
to the fouthward, in order that we might keep to windward of our port.
On tuefday forenoon we gained a diftant view of the lofty coaft of
Tuefday 24. Chili to the eaftward, The obferved latitude at noon was 32“ 53' fouth.
The land at this time was too far off to diftinguifh any of its particular
parts. The wind blew frelh from the fouth, with which we
made great progrefs towards the land, and' by fun-fet the fhores were
diftinftly feen to extend by compafs from n . go e . to s. 68 E . , about
10 leagues diftant. In this point of view, the fea coaft appeared to be
compofed of hills of various fhapes and fizes confiderably elevated;
behind thefe the interior country rofe to a very lofty range of ftupen-
dous mountains wrapped in perpetual fnow. Thefe were the Andes,
-and when firft feen, which was fhortly after noon, were at the dif-
tance, I fhould imagine, of nearly 40 leagues; but we had not an opportunity
of making the neceffary obfervations for a&ertaining that fa£L
We continued to ftand in fhore until ten at night, when, concluding we
were within g or 4 leagues of the land, we tacked and flood to the
w. s .w. under as much failaswe could venture to carry, for the purpofe
o f fetching, if poflible, to windward of Valparaifo.
At two o’clock on wednefday morning we again flood in for the land,
Wednef. 25. which was very indiftinftly feen, owing to a denfe haze in which it was
enveloped. The wind at s. s. e . was light, and it was not until about ten
in the forenoon that we were in with the fhores ; on which there was no
one circumftanee that could indicate our being in the neighbourhood of
Valparaifo, nor point out whether we were to the north or fouth of that
port, excepting our own reckoning, which (hewed it to be in the former
direction.
direction. I did not think it prudent in our crippled fituation to rifle a
difappointment, and for that reafon we flood off fhore until an obferva- i_— j-— *
tion for the latitude could be procured; which by the help of a double
altitude, was accomplifhed about eleven o’clock, when we bore away in
latitude 33° 16' fouth, for a point not far diftant from the place where we
expedited to find the bay of Valparaifo. At noon the above point,
which was the moft northern part of the coaft in fight, and appearing
like a fmall rocky ifland, lying clofe to a low or moderately elevated
projecting point of land, and terminating at the fea fide in a round
hummock , like a bell, bore by compafs N. 43 e. ; a rugged rocky iflet
lying clofe to the main land, near the fouth point of a fmall fandy bay,
being the neareft fhore, N .6 4E . , two or three miles diftant; and the
fouthernmoft part of the Coaft in fight,: s.E. by s. .
The view we had thus gained of the coafts of the kingdom of Chili
prefented but little to attract the attention, or excite the curiofity,
of ftrangers. Thofe parts immediately on the fea fhore were compofed
of rude cliffs and rocky precipices, againft which the weftern
fwell broke with unremitting violence. Above thefe cliffs the country
was varioufly broken by irregular eminences, fome formed of naked
barren rocks, and others confifting of a reddilh fubftance almoft equally
unproductive, on which fome verdure appeared here and there, with a few
ftunted (hrubs and bufhes, fome of which were at great diftances from
each other; but nothing like a tree was to be feen, and the landfcape,
bounded by the frozen fummits of the lofty Andes towering above the
lower barren mountains that defeend from them towards the fea coaft,
exhibited an extremely dreary, defolate, and inhofpitable piflure.
As we proceeded, a low fteep bluff point of land, beyond that which
terminated our northern view of the coaft at noon, was now feen lying
in a direftion from it, N. 51 e ., about 3 leagues diftant, and which
proved to be the weftern point of entrance into Valparaifo bay.
Our attention was now directed in quell of the “ great rock or (mail
“ ifland” deferibed by Sir Richard Hawkins in 1593, as lying “ a league
“ or better to the fouth oft and a good mark and fure fign oft the port.”
V ol. III. g F At