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enter Port Belgrano, passed round the great north bank, and
again anchored under Mount Hermoso. While some officers
and men were on shore there, building a sea-mark on the mount,
and otherwise employed for the survey, a gale of wind came on
from S.E., which soon sent so heavy a sea into the roadstead
near the mount, that the Beagle was obliged to strike
topmasts and veer a long scope of cable upon two anchors,
besides having another under foot. Unluckily, our party
on shore had only one day’s provisions, so while the gale
lasted their situation was sufficiently disagreeable; the keen
air and hard exercise sharpening their appetites, while they
had nothing to eat after the first day; and having no guns,
they had no prospect of procuring anything. Mr. Darwin
was also on shore, having been searching for fossils, and
he found this trial of hunger quite long enough to satisfy
even his love of adventure. Directly it was possible to put
a boat on the water, one was sent, with provisions secured
in a cask which was thrown overboard at the back of the surf,
and soon drifted ashore to the famishing party. This gale
lasted several days, and proved to us not only how heavy a
sea is thrown into this bight (rincón, Sp.), by a south-east
gale; hut also, that the holding-ground is sufficiently good
to enable a ship to withstand its effects.
One of our party on shore (who is not likely to forget
building a mark on Mount Hermoso) discovered many curious
fossils in some low cliffs under the mount; and judging from
what Mr. Darwin then found, future collectors may reap a rich
harvest there, as well as at Point Alta.
We next returned to the Wells, and while some assisted the
outfit of Lieutenant Wickham’s little vessels, others explored
the upper parts of the port, quite to its end, and Mr. Darwin
took advantage of the opportunity to make some of those
interesting excursions which he describes in his volume. At
this time there were no soldiers to watch us, neither was there
any longer a suspicion of our character ; for it appeared that
an express had been sent off to Buenos Ayres, at our first
arrival, giving an exaggerated and rather ludicrous account of
our officers, instruments and guns—to which an answer had
been immediately returned, desiring the commandant to afford
us every facility in his power, and checking the old major
rather sharply for his officious and unnecessary caution. Had
we not been hastily treated in the roads of Buenos Ayres,
when I went there to communicate with the Government, and
obtain information, I should doubtless have carried with me
orders, or a letter, to this commandant, which would have
prevented a moment’s suspicion : but, as it happened, no real
delay was occasioned, and no person was much disturbed
except the major, who fancied that our brass guns were disguised
field-pieces, our instruments lately invented engines of
extraordinary power, our numerous hoats intended expressly
for disembarking troops; and an assertion of mine, that any
number of line-of-battle ships might enter the port, a sure
indication that the Beagle was sent to find a passage for large
ships: which would soon appear, and take possession of the
country. Such was the substance of his communication to the
Government at Buenos Ayres, and as he acted as secretary—
(Rodriguez being a man of action rather than words)—he had
free scope for his disturbed imagination. I shall not easily
forget his countenance, when I first told him—thinking he
would be glad to hear it—that there was a deep channel leading
from Blanco Bay to the Guardia near Argentina, and that a
line-of-battle ship could approach within gunshot of the place
where I first met the commandant. He certainly thought
himself almost taken prisoner ; and I really believe that if he
had been commanding officer, we should have been sent
in chains to Buenos Ayres, or perhaps still worse treated.
Fortunately, Rodriguez the commandant, being a brave man,
and a gentleman, contemplated no such measures.
S'il
VOL. I I .