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Narborough, ‘Westminster Hall.’ The'coast about onr unsafe
anchorage was as barren and dismal-looking as any part of this
country, which, as the old navigator above-mentioned said, is
‘ so desolate land to behold.’
“ Next day (March 1st) we ran down to Cape Upright, and
there remained until the 3d, collecting the required data for
our survey.
“ While standing towards the bay called Playa Parda (on
the 3d), a boat under sail was seen making towards us from the
southern coast. I fired several guns, to show our position,
before we became shut in by the land, and soon after anchoring
a whale-boat came alongside, with the second mate and five
men belonging to the sealing-vessel Prince of Saxe Cohourg.
“ Anxious not to lose a moment in hastening to the, relief
of our shipwrecked countrymen, I ran down next day to Port
Gallant, and thence proceeded with two ten-oared boats (on
the 5th) through the Barbara Channel, and the following
evening reached Fury Harbour.”
Having already given a short account of the Saxe Cobourg’s
loss, and the rescue of her crew by Captain Stokes, I will not
repeat the story by extracting more from his journal.
Mr. Graves returned from his cruize in the Hope on the
17th, after suffering much from stormy weather and incessant
ram; but having made a survey of the openings in the land to
the west of Magdalen Channel as far as the Sugar Loaf Point,
at the west head of Lyell Sound, which he found to be deep
inlets, affording no anchorages of value to navigation.
The time having arrived for our return to Monte Video,
preparations were made for sailing, and in the mean time I went
to the northward, in the Hope, to survey the coast between
Port Famine and Flizabeth Island, including Shoal Haven.
At the bottom of Shoal Haven we were stopped by the
water shoaling to five feet, so that we were obliged to haul out
till we could anchor in more than two fathoms. During the
night the wind shifted to N.F., and blew right in, obliging us
to weigh, and work under the S.W. end of Flizabeth Island
into a bay close to that shore. From the summit of the S.W.
point I afterwards took angles, among which the most important
gave Mount Sarmiento bearing S. 1-|° W. (true). Its
distance must have been (by recent observations) ninety-four
miles.
Flizabeth Island is along, low strip of land, lying parallel
to the shores of the Strait, which here take a N.N.E. direction.
Compared with the land to the southward it is very low, no
part being more than two or three hundred feet high. It is
composed of narrow ranges of hills, extending in ridges in the
direction of its length, over which are strewed boulders of the
various rocks, which have been noticed before as forming the
shingle beaches of Point St. Mary and Point St. Anna ; two
kinds of rock, greenstone and hornblende, being the most
common. The vallies which divide the hilly ridges were well
clothed with grass, and in many places were seen hollows, that
had contained fresh water, but now were entirely dried up.
These spots were marked by a white crust, apparently caused
by the saline quality of the soil.
Geese and wild ducks, and the red-bill {Hoematopus), seem
to be the only inhabitants of this island. The Indians sometimes
visit it, for at the S.W. end we found remains of wigwams
and shell-fish. Perhaps it is a place whence they communicate
with the Patagonian natives, or they may in the
season frequent it for eggs.
We anchored in Laredo Bay, and visited a lake about a
mile from the beach, distinguished on the chart by the name
of Duck Lagoon ; it is very extensive, and covered with large
flights of gulls, ducks, and widgeons. We shot one widgeon,
which was a most beautiful bird, and of a species we had not
before seen.*
Here the country begins to be clothed with the deciduous
leaved Beech tree {Fagus Antarctica), which is stunted in
growth, but very convenient for fuel. Though the hardiest
tree of this region, it is never found of large size, the larger
trees being the evergreen Beech {Fagus betuloides). We also
met with several small plants common to Cape Gregory. One
• ‘ Anas Eafflesii,’ Zool. Journ., vol. iv., and Tab. Supp.. xxix,
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