Leave Rio de Janeiro--Santos--St. Catherine's--Monte Video--Purchase the
Adelaide schooner, for a Tender to the Adventure--Leave Monte Video--
Beagle goes to Port Desire--Shoals off Cape Blanco--Bellaco Rock--Cape
Virgins--Possession Bay--First Narrow--Race--Gregory Bay--View--Tomb--
Traffic with Natives--Cordial meeting--Maria goes on board--Natives
intoxicated--Laredo Bay--Port Famine.
We were ready to resume our voyage early in September (1827); but not
having received any communication by the packet, from the Admiralty,
relative to the purchase of a tender, I determined to await the arrival of
the next, early in October. I was again disappointed, and very reluctantly
left Rio de Janeiro, on the 16th, for Monte Video; but that I might still
benefit by the orders which were sure to be in the following packet, I
determined upon calling at Santos, and St. Catherine's, for chronometrical
observations; leaving the Beagle to wait for letters conveying the decision
of his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral.
We reached Santos on the 18th, and staid there until the 28th. In this
interval I paid a short visit to St. Paul's, for the purpose of making
barometrical observations.[88] At St. Catherine's we remained eight days,
and during the interval necessary for ascertaining the rates of the
chronometers, I obtained magnetic observations.
[Illustration: A. Earle T. Hair
MOLE, PALACE AND CATHEDRAL, RIO DE JANEIRO.
Published by Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough Street, 1838]
{107}
After a tedious voyage of nineteen days from St. Catherine's, I arrived at
Monte Video, and there received intelligence that the long-wished
permission from the Lord High Admiral, to procure a tender, had been
obtained. I accordingly purchased a schooner, which I named the Adelaide,
and appointed Lieutenant Graves to the command. Five months' additional
provisions for both vessels were purchased, and put into her; and on the
23d December, after running up the river to complete our water, we sailed
out by the southern entrance, passing to the westward of the Archimedes'
Shoal, and proceeded without farther detention to the southward.
On the 1st of January (in latitude 43deg 17' and long. 61deg 9'), I was
informed that we were close to a rock. Upon going on deck, I saw the
object; but in a very short time I perceived it was a dead whale, upon
whose half-putrid body large flocks of birds were feeding. Many on board
were, however, sceptical, until, on passing to leeward, the strong odour
testified the fact. Its appearance certainly was very like the summit of a
dark brown rock, covered with weeds and barnacles, and the myriads of birds
which surrounded it added to the deception. It could, however, be
distinguished by its buoyancy; for the water did not break over it, as of
course it would have done had it been a fixed body. Such is probably the
origin of half the 'vigias' that are found on the charts. Whales, when
struck by the fishers, frequently escape and perish; the carcass then
floats on the surface of the sea, until decomposed or eaten by birds and
fishes. A small vessel striking against such a mass, would probably be
severely injured; and at night, the {108} body, from its buoyancy and the
sea not breaking against it, would not be readily seen.
On the 4th, being about one hundred miles to the N.E. of Cape Blanco, I
communicated with Captain Stokes, and gave him directions to proceed to
Port Desire for chronometrical observations, and then follow me immediately
to Cape Fairweather or Cape Virgins. We had light winds during the night,
so that the Beagle made very little progress. In the afternoon, Cape
Blanco, a long level-topped ridge, came in sight, of which good views are
given in Lord Anson's voyage. We steered towards the land, and at six
o'clock were in eighteen fathoms, the rocky hill at the extremity of the
Cape bearing S. 10deg E. thirteen miles; at seven o'clock, the same hill
was six miles and a half off, bearing S. 3deg E., when we observed a line
of rippling water, extending from east to as far as we could see on the
south horizon. The depth was seventeen fathoms, but as we proceeded it
gradually decreased to twelve and ten, and soon afterwards to seven
fathoms, when the Beagle was observed to be firing guns; but whether they
were intended to warn us of danger, or as signals of her own distress, we
could not determine, and I hauled to the wind to cross where the ripple
appeared least violent. In passing through it we had not less than seven
fathoms, and then it deepened to twelve and fifteen fathoms. We had now
leisure to attend to the Beagle, and soon saw that her signals were only to
warn us, for she had resumed her course under a press of sail.
After steering four miles to the S.E., we again found ourselves in the
midst of ripplings, in which the water shoaled to six fathoms. It being
then dark, and not knowing how to proceed, we shortened sail and brought to
the wind, in order that if the ship struck it might be with less force; but
happily we passed on without any further decrease of soundings. In going
through the ripple, the Adelaide, though deeply laden, behaved well.
Commodore Byron passed over these shoals, which he describes as lying at a
greater distance from the shore: it was to avoid them that we passed so
near the land.
{109}
During the following evening there was a very heavy dew, the never-failing
prognostic of a northerly wind; the horizon, also, was very hazy, and the
water perfectly smooth. We were not more than ten miles off shore, yet the
land was completely distorted in appearance by mirage.
Next morning we were very close to the position assigned to the Bellaco, or
St. Estevan's Shoal, the existence of which has been very much doubted. It
was discovered by the Nodales, and in the diary of their voyage is thus
described: "At five o'clock, or later in the evening, we discovered a rock
a-wash ('una baxa que lababa la mar en ella') about five leagues from the
shore, more or less. It is a very deceitful rock ('Es muy bellaco baxo'),
because it is under water, over which, in fine weather and smooth water,
the sea breaks. We sounded near it, and found twenty-six fathoms stony
bottom. Its latitude is 48-1/2deg, according to our noon observation, and
the course and distance we have since run."[89]
The late Don Felipe Bauza, one of the companions of Malespina, informed me,
that on the voyage of the Descubierta and Atrevida, their boats were sent
to look for it, but were unsuccessful.
At noon we were in lat. 48deg 40' S., long. 66deg 6', depth forty-two
fathoms, but without any signs of the Bellaco. Sailing on, the coast was
seen in the neighbourhood of Beachy Head (so named from its resemblance to
the well-known promontory). Afterwards, Cape Fairweather came in sight, and
on the 10th Cape Virgins, which we passed in the evening, and, half an hour
afterwards, rounding Dungeness, we again entered the Strait of Magalhaens;
and anchored near the northern shore.
In Possession Bay we were detained several days, although repeated attempts
to pass the First Narrow were anxiously made.
One evening, clouds gathered, and the weather assumed such a threatening
appearance, that I expected to be obliged to run to sea; but to our
surprise, when the cloudy mass seemed on {110} the point of bursting over
us with a deluge of rain, it suddenly vanished, and was succeeded by a
beautifully clear and fine night. This 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 stern, Lieutenant Graves informed
me that he had lost an anchor, and had only one left, to which he had bent
his chain-cable; and that she had shipped so much water in attempting to
beat 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 supplied 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 stream 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 supplied her with our kedges, 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, {111} 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 us; 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.
Lieutenant 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 81deg, 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 {112} station three
miles within the Second Narrow on the north side, and in our way we found
the geological structure of the cliffs to be of a decomposed clay-slate,
arranged in strata, much distorted by the violent action of the water, and
dispersed in vertical and inclined directions in very thin laminae.
These cliffs are about one hundred feet high, the soil a sandy alluvium, of
a sterile character, scantily covered with a wiry, stunted grass, and here
and there a berberis bush, loaded with ripe fruit, which, from the poverty
of the soil, was tasteless and dry; the ground was also, in many parts,
over-run to a considerable extent with an insipid cranberry, scarcely worth
the trouble of gathering.
We struck across the country, with the view of examining the place where
the Indians were residing at our last visit, and the tomb which had then
been erected. Grass had grown up, and effaced the traces of feet; but the
tomb had suffered no farther alteration than the weather might have
effected. We found that the place had been recently visited by the natives,
for within a few yards of the entrance were strewed the ashes of a large
fire, containing vestiges of the former decorations of the tomb, and the
end of one of the flag-staffs, with the unburnt corner of one of the
banners. Amongst the ashes, also, we found calcined bones; but whether they
were human or not, we could not ascertain.
The discovery of the bones impressed us with the idea that the body had
been burnt, and determined me to examine the tomb. The bushes that filled
up the entrance appeared to be placed exactly as when we first saw them,
and indeed the whole pile seemed to have remained quite undisturbed; but
there was no appearance of the brass ornaments, or of the effigies of the
horses.
Having effected an opening in the bushes, we found an inner covering, made
of horse-skins. Having cut two holes opposite each other, for the admission
of light, we saw nothing but two parallel rows of stones, three in each
row, probably intended as a bier for the body or a covering for the grave;
but the ground around and between them bore no appearance {113} of having
been disturbed for burial.[90] As we hourly expected the Indians would
arrive (the place being in the direct line of their journey to the ships),
and were unwilling to let them know we had disturbed the sanctuaries of
their dead, we restored the former appearance of the tomb; and it was
fortunate we did so, for three women on horseback, carrying their children
in cradles, with a quantity of skins, provisions, and other merchandise,
evidently the harbingers of the tribe, made their appearance, and
immediately began to erect their tents.
When we next went on shore we found several Indians arrived, and divided
into three groups, with mantles, ostrich-feathers, skins, and joints of
guanaco meat displayed for sale.
As the meat appeared fresh, it is probable that, on seeing us, the women
were despatched to place the toldos, while the men set out to provide
guanaco meat, for they knew our partiality for this excellent food. When we
landed, an active barter began.
From the haste and avidity shown in offering their goods, and closing the
bargains, it seemed as if they were anxious to monopolize our articles of
barter before the rest of their party, or tribe arrived. One old man
attempted to cheat; but my interdiction of all farther traffic with him
brought him to a sense of his error, and I then made him a present of some
tobacco and allowed him to trade, which he afterwards did, with
cheerfulness and honesty.
One of the party was the Fuegian chief, whom I previously noticed, as a
squalid, meagre-looking man; but he was now enlarged to Patagonian
dimensions, by his improved diet and more cheerful mode of life. The
appearance of bad weather obliged us to suspend the barter and get on
board. After we had reached the ship, successive parties of the tribe
arrived, {114} and formed the encampment. Among them, mounted on her white
horse, was Maria, who, duly escorted, paraded on the beach to challenge our
recognition. In the centre of the encampment, a large flag suspended from a
pole was a signal to us, and showed the position of her toldo.
The next morning being fine, we landed near the encampment, and were most
cordially received. Maria was particularly attentive, and embraced me
closely, while her companions chaunted in chorus a song of delight at our
arrival.
When we reached her toldo, a mat was spread out for me to sit on. Maria and
her family placed themselves in front of me, while the rest sat round.
Almost the first question was an inquiry for my son Philip, whom they
called Felipe,[91] and two or three skins were given to me for him. They
then asked for our pilot on the former voyage, and were much disappointed
to find he had left the ship. After a short conversation I returned the two
bags (which I had so unwillingly carried away at our last visit), having
filled them with flour and sugar, and then proceeded to deliver our
presents. As each article was delivered into her hands, she repeated, in
Spanish, I'll pay for this; but upon a bit for her horse being presented, a
general burst of admiration followed, and it was handed round the tents,
whilst each individual, as it passed on, looked, I thought, anxious to be
its possessor.
Maria then began to consider what adequate requital she could possibly make
me. The result was, a present of two mantles, one new, of guanaco skin, and
the other well worn, of zorillo skin, besides two or three skins of the
puma. She then produced a piece of paper, carefully wrapped up in canvas,
containing a letter, or memorandum, left by Mr. Low, master of the Uxbridge
sealer, addressed to any shipmaster passing through the Strait, apprising
him "of the friendly disposition of the Indians, and impressing him with
the necessity of treating them well, and not deceiving them; for they had
good memories, and would seriously resent it."
The advice, no doubt, was good; but I think the fear of {115} forfeiting
advantages and comforts to be derived from traffic would induce them to
restrain their resentment.
I brought no spirits; for which, after a short time, Maria asked,
complaining that she was very ill, and had sore eyes, and for some time
past had nothing but water to drink, and wood to smoke. Her illness was
evidently assumed, but her eyes seemed highly inflamed; and no wonder, for
the upper part of her face was smeared over with an ochrous red pigment,
even to the very edge of her eyelids: indeed, the whole tribe had
ornamented themselves similarly, in compliment, I suppose, to our visit.
As I prepared to return on board, Maria's importunity induced me to allow
her to accompany me; upon which she began to muster up all her empty bags,
old mantles, and skins, and, attended by her husband, her brother-in-law,
his wife and daughter, got into the boat. While going on board, the spray
washed the painted countenances of our visitors, much to their regret.
Upon reaching the ship, I ordered them to be regaled with meat and biscuit,
of which they partook very sparingly, but took care to put what remained
into their bags. Some spirits and water, too, which I thought would be soon
dispatched, and which had been plentifully diluted to prevent their being
made tipsy, they emptied into bottles to take on shore "for the evening,"
when, as Maria said, they would be "very drunk."
Among various things shown to amuse them was a musical snuff-box, which I
had procured for the express purpose of exciting their astonishment; but I
was surprised to find, that a penny-whistle produced a ten-fold greater
effect upon their senses. This indifference to musical sounds I should not
have suspected, because they frequently sing, though certainly in a
monotonous manner.
As soon as their repast was concluded, the party, except Maria and the
girls, commenced bartering their mantles and skins, and, by the time their
stock was expended, they had amassed a large quantity of biscuit, and a
bundle of various {116} trifles, some of which they had attempted to get by
pilfering. They made themselves so contented, that it was not without much
difficulty we could persuade them to go on shore. Maria had made her mind
up to pass the night on board, and so anxious were they all to remain, that
it was only by giving Maria two bottles of spirits (which had been well
diluted) that they were induced to get into the boat, and accompany me
ashore. Being a lee-tide, and low water, the boat grounded at a
considerable distance from the beach; seeing this, some of the Indians rode
into the water, and taking us up behind them, conveyed us to the
encampment, my place being behind Maria, the smell of whose zorillo-skin
mantle was hardly bearable; but it was necessary to conceal our dislike of
our companions as much as possible, for they are very sensitive, and easily
offended.
While waiting for the tide, we witnessed a drunken scene at Maria's toldo.
Fifteen persons, seated around her, shared the spirits she had obtained on
board, until all were intoxicated. Some were screaming, others laughing,
some stupified, and some bellowing. The uproar drew all the other Indians
round the tent, who tendered their assistance to compose their friends, and
we returned to the ship. When we visited them the next day, they were quite
recovered, and gave us some guanaco meat, which had been brought in that
morning. On communicating my intention of proceeding on the voyage, Maria
wished to know when we should finish our "seal-killing," and come back. I
told her "in five moons," upon which she endeavoured to persuade me to
return in four, because she would then have plenty of skins to barter.
I wrote a few lines to Captain Stokes, who, I expected, would arrive in a
day or two, communicating my desire that he should follow, as soon as
possible, to Port Famine, and committed the letter to Maria's care, who
promised to deliver it to him; then, taking leave of her and her
companions, I embarked, and proceeded through the Second Narrow to an
anchorage off Cape Negro.
Our visit to Gregory Bay, and communication with the {117} Indians,
furnished us with many additions to our zoological collection; among them
was a tiger-cat, which seemed, from the description, to be the _Felis
pajaros_ of the Encyclopedie Methodique (the "Chat de Pampa" of D'Azara).
Maria gave me a very large bezoar stone, that was taken from the stomach of
a guanaco. It is used medicinally by the Indians, as a remedy for bowel
complaints.[92]
Whilst we were at the anchorage before Cape Negro, Mr. Tarn and Mr. Wickham
visited the lake at the back of Laredo Bay, and saw two swans, which, from
the colour of their plumage, seemed to be the black-necked swan of the
River Plata and of the Falkland Islands[93] (Dom Pernettey, ii. p. 148).
They brought on board with them a new species of duck, which is described
in the proceedings of the Zoological Society as _Anas specularis_ (Nob.),
and a small burrowing animal, of the rat tribe, that, from the character of
its teeth, is probably of a genus not hitherto noted: it approaches nearest
to F. Cuvier's _Helamys_.
We next anchored in Port Famine, where the tents, &c. were replaced in
their former positions, the ship was unrigged and secured for the winter,
and all hands set to work, preparing the Adelaide for service.
* * * * *
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