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258 A P P E N D I X .
This is a tolerable harbour, with good anchorage any where in
from three and a half to ten fathoms, OA'er a fine sandy bottom.
Fire-wood is the principal commodity, for which it is the best and
cheapest place on the whole coast. Vessels of considerable burthen
touch here for that article, which they carry up to Callao, aad derive
great profit from its sale. There are also some saltpetre works,
established by a Frenchman, but httle business is done in that line.
The town lies in a north-easterly direction, about two miles from the
anchorage, but is hid by the surrounding trees, which grow to the
height of thirty feet. It has only one street, and cannot contain more
than five or six hundred inhabitants. At the anchorage there is a
small house, used to ti'ansact business, but no other building, which
is unusual, as at most of these places there is a small village near
the sea. Large stacks of wood are piled up on the beach, ready for
embarking.
Fresh provisions, vegetables, and fruit, are plentiful and moderate ;
but water is not to be depended on. It is true, there is a river, and
for several months after March there is a plentiful supply ; but in
the summer season there is sometimes great drought. At the time
we were there, a whale-ship put in to supply her wants, and had to
remain several days, waiting for the water to come down from the
mountains.
Legarto Head is a steep cliff, with the land falling inmiediately
inside it and rising again to about the same height. In saUmg in,
after having passed the head, a small, white islet will be seen in the
middle of the bay; steer for it, that you may not border on the
southern shore, for there are many straggling rocks running oif the
points; and when sufficiently far to the northward to shape a midchannel
course between the white islet and the point opposite it, to
the southward, do so, and it wiU lead to the anchorage. In standing
in, in this direction, the water shoals gradually to the beach; but
the southern shore must on no account be approached nearer than a
quarter of a mile.
The best anchorage is in four fathoms, with Harbour Islet bearing
N. 26° W. , and the ruins of a fort on a hUl in-shore E. 6° N. about
a quarter of a mile from the landing-place on the beach. This landing
place does not seem to be so good a one as a steep rock on the
outer side of the bluff, where the sand beach commences ; but probably
it is the most convenient for loading boats.
Tlie rise and fall of tide is irregular, and the time of high water
mT
A P P I S N D I X .
in sudden gusts and squalls. ^^^ ^^
^ " ^ r d ^ t e ™ e C e T i s I ma!s of broken cUffs and innu-
On the north side of Point Culebras, there .s off t ^
valley oofT tthhaatt nnaammee 1F rom this Pp omt the c^o^a^s^t^ is^ ^r^o^c^k y^, ^w^^i^th^ ^ s^m^ al^l
r i ^ :ir: i r l a ^ h ^ i s U «ve miles to the northward of
S e t a s wLncetbe coast takes a bend inwards, formmg a bay,
^ r l « out towards the Colina Redonda; a pomt with two
and then runs ^^^^ ^„.^hward, appearing like an
Z r o : ; : ' n : l side of t^s pomt is the CaMa (only fit for
boats) ; andimmediately over it, the Cerro Mongon.
^ e Cerro Mongon is the highest and most conspicuous ob ect on
The Oerro b ^^ ^ ^^^ westward it has the ap-
!pe:arranc ce ooft tDee ^ i - n l with r a t h e r a s h^a r p sum^m^^ it; but from th,e,
S r e ' i s ' a S ^ r o f r s b w L r on its summit, and that its v^eys
a b o u n d " th deer ; but the truth of this cannot be vouched for,as r^rTrt;^:^ hms P^. . t.
u • nnd rockv with some white islets lymg oil it)
:fo:rmt sr tlhef csotut:haer"n lheTade o\f hth:e ip;orrt —of thi a. t an asmteee p roc_k y bluff, that
The of CASMA is a snug anchorage, something in the forme
a hor!e-shoe ; at its entrance it is a mile and three quarters in a
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