Jan. 182T. MOUNT SARMIENTO. 27
and excellent is his description. It is also mentioned in the
account of Cordova’s voyage.* The peculiar shape of its
summit as seen from the north would suggest the probability
of its being a volcano, but we never observed any indication of
its activity. Its volcanic form is perhaps accidental, for, seen
from the westward, its summit no longer resembles a crater.
From the geological character of the surrounding rocks its formation
would seem to be of slate. It is in a range of mountains
rising generally two or three thousand feet above the sea; but
at the N.E. end of the range are some, at least four thousand feet
high. The height of the “ Snowy Volcano,” or as we have called
it. Mount Sarmiento,"I" was found, by trigonometrical measurement,
to he six thousand eight hundred feetj above the level
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• Ultimo Viage, p. 120,
t From an attentive perusal of the voyage of Magalhaens, I have lately
been led to think th a t this is the mountain which Magalhaens called
Roldan’s Bell. Sarmiento has, however, assigned th a t name to a mountain
a t the back of his Bay of Campana, w hich will be noticed in it’s
proper place. T h e name of Mount Sarmiento was too long, and too well
established with us, or I should have restored the name bestowed upon it
by Magalhaens. H e rre ra , in his Descripción de las Indias Occidentales,
c ap.xxiii, notices the “ Campana de R o ld a n ” as a great mountain in
the midst of th e entrance of a c h an n e l; they gave it this name (Campana
de Roldan) because one of Magalhaens’s companions, named Roldan,
an artillery officer, went to examine it. “ Y la Campana de Roldan una
Peiia grande en medio al principio de un c a n a l: dieron le este nombre
porque la fue a reconocer uno de los compañeros de Magallanes llamado
Roldan que era artillero.”
í By angular measurement, with a theodolite, from the tent,
the base being by diff. of lat. 297,863 feet, and allow-
ing ^ of the intercepted arc for terrestrial refraction . . 6,864feet.
By angular measure with sextant (index error, dip, and
of the intercepted arc being allowed) the base being
290,074 feet ................................................................................ 7,237
By angular measurement, with a theodolite, from Warp
Bay, by Lieuts. Skju'ing and Graves .................................... 6,800
M ean................ 6,967 feet,
but as the last obseryation, from the angle of elevation being greater, was
more likely to be correct, 6,800 feet is considered to be its elevation.
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