hopes that fome o f the company would hear him, which, after wandering font«
time in a pathlefs wilderoefs, they happily did, and anfwered him as loud as their
enfeebled voices would admit:- Overjoyed at the event, he returned freflicourage,
and, making toward the part from which the found proceeded, at length came up
with them. Tou ch ed with fympatby for his companions, he told the eotnpany o f
the'conditlon in w hich he left them and they were difpofed to have yielded them
affiftance, but, it being aimoft dark, there was not-any probability o f finding them,
and the attempt would have been attended with the rifque o f their own lives ; they
therefore declined it. However, the next morning, after break o f day, they dtf-
patched the man in queft o f his companions, whom he a t length found frozen to
death; but the dog that had been with them all the night had furvived th em : he
found him-fitting clofe by his maftefs eorpfe, and feemed reluaant to- leave it a
hut at length the dog forfook it, and went back to the company ; they all fct out
immediately towards the (hip, which they reached about 1 1 o’c lo c k 'in the forenoon,
to our great joy , as we had defpairedof their return.
Having furnilhed ourfelves with wood and water, and let down our guns and.
lumber below d e ck , to be better prepared for the high gales w hich we expeited in
■ going round Cape H orn; on the a i i l 'o f January;, 1769, we weighedanchor, and
left the Bay o f Good Snccefs, andproceeded on o u r voyage through the Straits o f
L e Maire, which are fo rm e d b y Cape Antoniifen- Staten-dand, and Cape Vincent
on Terra d elF u eg o to the north;, and on the fouth b y Cape Bartholomew on Staten-
land, and a high promontory on Terra del- Fuego, paffing between th em , and are
about nine leagues long, and feven- broad.
T h e land on both fides, particularly Staten-iand; affords a molt difmal profpeft,
being made u p c h i e f l y o f barren rocks and tremendous precipices, covered with
fnow, and uninhabited, forming one b f thofe natural views which humamnature
can fcarce behold without ihuddering. — H ow amazingly diverfified are the works
o f the Deity .within the narrow limits o f this globe we inhabit, which, compared
with the vaft aggregate o f fy ftems that compofe the univerfe, appears but a dark
fpeck in the creation ! A cudofity, perhaps, equal to Solomons, though accompanied
with lefs wifdom than was poffeffed by the Royal Plfdofopher,induced feme o f
us to quit our native land, to inveftigate the heavenly bodies minutely in diftant
regions, as well as to trace the fignatures of the Supreme Power and Intelligence
throughout feveral fpecies o f animals, and different genera of plants in the vegetable
fyftem, " from the-cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyfTop that fpringeth
out of the wal l and the more we inveftigate, the more we ought to admire the
power, wifdom, and goodnefs, of the Great Superintendant of the univerfe j which
attributes are amply difplayed throughout allhiswprks; the fmalleft objedt, feen
through the microfcope, declares its-origin to be divine, as well as tnofe larger
ones which the unaffifted eye is capable of contemplating: but to proceed.
On the 25th, we faw Cape Horn, at about five leagues diftance, which, contrary
to our expedlations, we doubled with as little danger as the North Foreland on the
Kentiih coaft; the heavens were fair, the wind temperate, the weather pleafant, and,
being within one mile of the fhore, we had a more diftindt view of this coaft, than
perhaps any former voyagers have had on this ocean.
The point of the Cape is very low;; and at the S. E. extremity there are feveral
iilands, called, by the French, Iiles d’Hermitage j and near it are feveral ragged
rocks. The Cape is in latitude 550 48' Sr. and longitude 67° 40' W. We founded
in fifty-five fathom, and found round itones, and broken Jhells.
On. the 30th, . we reached to latitude 6o° 2" S. and longitude 730 5 'W. variation
24° 547 E. This was our higheft fouthern latitude j and from thence we altered
our courfe, fleering W. N. W. with but little variation, having pleafant weather,
and fhort nights, until the 16th of February, when we had hard gales from W. by
S. S. by W. and S. and we continued our courfe N. W. till the iothj between
that time and the 20th, we had very copious dews, like finall fhowers of rain.
On the 21 ft, we faw a great number of tropic and egg birds, and fhot two
of the former, which had a very beauteous plumage, being a fine white, mingled
with a moil lively red: their tails were compofed pf twp long red feathers j and
their beaks were of a deep red. We found ourfelves at this time in latitude 25"
21' S. and longitude 120° 20' W*. having fair weather, with a dry, lerene, and falu-,
brious air.
C 2 Con