Jan. 1828.
the point of bursting over us with a deluge of rain, it suddenly
vanished, and was succeeded by a beautifully clear and fine
night. Tliis favourable appearance gave us hopes of being-
able to make good our entrance on the following day ; but a
fresh gale set in, and kept us at our anchorage.
Early on the 14th we made another fruitless attempt to pass
the First Narrow. As the Adelaide sailed under our stem.
Lieutenant Graves informed me that he had lost an anchor,
and had only one left, to which he had bent his chaih-cable;
and that she had shipped so much water in attempting to heat
through, that he was on the point of asking permission to bear
up when we ourselves gave up the attempt. It blew too hard
to give any assistance to the Adelaide, but next morning,
when the weather was more moderate, I seized an opportunity
of sending our two kedge anchors; and in the afternoon we
suppbed her ■with some water and other necessaries, so that she
was comparatively well off, and my anxiety on her account
much relieved.
Fires on the Fuegian side had been kept up since our arrival,
but we could not distinguish any inhabitants; on the
Patagonian shores we saw a great number of guanacoes feeding
quietly, a proof of there being no Indians near them.
On the 16th, the weather appearing favourable, our anchor
was weighed, and, with the Adelaide, we soon entered the
sluice of the Narrow, proceeding rapidly, though the wind blew
hard against us. The tide carried us to an anchorage, about
four miles beyond the western entrance, and it was slack water
when the anchor was dropped ; but, no sooner had the streain
turned, than we found ourselves in the midst of a ‘ race,’
and during the whole tide, the water broke furiously over the
ship. At slack water we got underweigh, but the Adelaide
not being able (from the strength of the tide), to purchase her
anchor, was obliged to slip the cable: it was fortunate that
we had suppbed her with our hedges, or she would then have
been without an anchor. The night was tempestuous, and
although we reached a much quieter birth, the Adelaide drifted
considerably ; had she remained at the morning’s anchorage.
in order to save her anchor and cable, we should probably
never have seen her again.
The succeeding morning, after a hard beat to windward,
both vessels anchored in Gregory Bay. No Indians were in
the neighbourhood, or we should have seen their fires. In the
afternoon the wind moderated, and as there was every appearance
of fine weather, I remained to survey the coast.
On the summit of the land, about half a mile northward of
the extremity of the Cape, while Lieutenant Graves and I were
taking bearings, and making observations, two guanacoes came
up and stood neighing at u s ; the observation, however, was
of consequence, and as they were not disturbed, they remained
watching us for some minutes before they took alarm and
fled.L
ieutenant Wickham and Mr. Tarn made an excursion to
the summit of the Table Land, previously described as extending
from the low land behind the Second Narrow to the N.E.,
in the direction of Mount Aymond, and were amply repaid
for a fatiguing walk, with the thermometer at 81°, by a magnificent
view : Cape Possession to the eastward, and to the south
the mountains near Mount Tarn, eighty miles distant, were
plainly distinguished. The view to the westward, stretching
over a large extent of grassy plains, was bounded by lofty
ranges of snow-capped mountains; but to the north it was
intercepted by another summit of the mountain upon which
they stood. The country they passed over was covered with
short grass, through which a mass of granite occasionally
protruded. Neither trees nor shrubs were observed, excepting
a few herbaceous plants, and the berberis; a goose, some
ducks, snipe, and plovers were shot; and guanacoes were seen
at a distance, but no ostriches, nor did they meet any Indians.
Large fires were, however, kindled on both shores of the Strait,
in answer to the fire which they made for cooking. In consequence
of those on the Patagonian coast appearing so close
to us, we expected a visit from the natives before night, but
none made their appearance.
Next morning, Mr. Graves accompanied me in a boat to a
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