rocks, but no danger of any description outside it. The hill of
Mexillones is 2,G50 feet high, has the appearance of a cone with
the top cut oiF, and stands conspicuously above the surrounding
heights. This in clear weather is undoubtedly the best of
the two marks; but as the tops of hills on the coast of Peru are
frequently covered with hea^'y clouds, the bluff is the surer mark, for
;t cannot be mistaken; as, besides its chalky appearance, it is the
northern extreme of the peninsula, and the land falls back several
miles to the eastward of it.
Round this head is the spacious bay of Mexillones, eight miles
across—but of little use, as neither wood or water is to be obtained-
The shore is steep-to •, there is anchorage on the west side, two
miles inside the bluff, a cable's length off a sandy spit, in sewn
fathoms sandy bottom : at the distance of three cables there is thirty
fathoms.
From this bay the coast runs nearly north and south, without any
thing worthy of remaik, until you reach the Bay of COBIJA, or LA
MAR. This lies N. 13° E. thirty-one miles from Leading Bluff, is
the only port of the Bolivian Republic, and contains about fourteen
hundred inhabitants. Vessels caU occasionally to take in copper ore
and cotton; but the trade Is small (pai-ticularly in 1835, as the
revolution in Peru had destroyed the Httle they had). Water is scarce,
at least, that which is good; there are wells, but the water fi-om
them is very brackish, and wiU not keep in casks. Fresh meat
may be procured at a high price; but fruit and vegetables, even for
their own consumption, are brought from Valparaiso, a distance of
seven hundred miles. They have a mud-built fort, of five or six
oTms, on the summit of the Point; the only fortification about the
If coming from the southward toward this bay : after having passed
the Leading Bluff (which should always be made), it would be advisable
to shape a course so as to close the land two or three leagues
to windward of the port, and then coast along until two wliite-topped
islets, off False Cobija Point, are seen ; a mile and a quarter to the
northward,of them is the port. On the Cobija Point there is a white
stone, which shews very plainly, in reUef against the black rocks at
the back of i t : a white fiag is usually hoisted at the fort, when a vessel
appears in the offing—which is also a good guide. In going in
there is no danger; the point is steep-to, and may be rounded at
A P P E N D I X . 2 3 5
cable's length distant, and the anchorage is good in eight or nine
fathoms, sand and broken shells. In the bay there arc a number of
straggling rocks, all weU pointed out by kelp. It is high water
at the fiUl and change at 9h. 54m., and the tide rises four feet.
Landing, at all times is indifferent, and at fuU and change, owing to
the heavy swell, it requires some skUl in winding through the narrow
channel, formed by rocks on each side. Two miles north and east
is Copper Cove, a convenient place for taking in the ore ; there is
anchorage in twelve fathoms, a short distance from the shore.
After leaving the north point of Cobija Bay, which has a number
of stragghng rocks a short distance off it, the coast takes a rather
more easterly direction ; generally shallow sand bays, with rocky
points, and hills from two to three thousand feet high close to the
coast, but no anchorage or place fit for shipping, until you reach
ALGODON BAY, twenty-eight miles from Cobija.
This bay is small, and the water deep ; we anchored a quarter of a
mile fi-om the shore, in eleven fathoms, sand and broken shells, over
a rocky bottom; its only use is as a stoppmg-place for water, should
it be required. It may be obtained at the GuUy of MamiUa (seven
miles to the northward) from a spring, a mile and a half from the
beach ; the usual method of bringing it is in bladders made of sealskin,
holding seven or eight gallons each, with which most of the
coasters are provided—the only vessels that profit by a knowledge of
these places.
Algodon Bay may be distinguished by a gully leaduig down to it,
and that of Mamilla to the northward, which has two paps on the
heights, over the north side of i t ; there is also a white islet off Algodon
Point.
N. 2° W. , ten miles from this bay, is a projecting point, called
in the Spanish chart SAN FRANCISCO, but known more generaUy
by the name of PAauiQDi; on the north side of it, and near the
extreme, is a large bed of guano, so much used on this coast for
manure, that it may be said to be quite a trade. A brig of one
hundred and seventy tons was loading with it for Islay at the time
we passed ; she was moored head and stem within a cable's length
of the rocks, on which a considerable surf was breaking, and the
guano was brought off in a balsa to a launch just outside the surf.
There is better anchorage farther in the bay ; but this is chosen for
convenience.
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