and

Terra del Fuego within fight of land, for it will then, of itself, be fufficiently confpicuous; Staten Land, which forms the east fide, will be still more manifestly distinguished, for there. is no land on Terra del Fuego like it. The. Streight of Le Maire can be miffed only by. standing too far to the eastward, without keeping the land of Terra del Fuego in fight: if this is done, it may be miffed, however accurately the appearance of the coaft of Staten Land may have been exhibited; and if this is not done, it cannot be miffed, though the appearance of that coaft be not known. The entrance of the Streight should not be attempted but with a fair wind and moderate weather, andupon the very beginning of the tide of flood, which happens here, at the full and change of the moon, about one or two o'clock; it is alfo best to keep as near to the Terra del Fuego fhore as the winds will admit. By attending to these particulars, a fhip may be got quite through the Streight in one tide; or, at least, to the fouthward of Succefs Bay, into which it will be more prudent to put, if the wind fhould. be foutherly, than to attempt the weathering of Staten Land with a lee wind and a current, which may endanger her being driven on that iДland,

The Streight itself, which is bounded on the west by Terra del Fuego, and on the east by

the

1769.

January.

1769. the west end of Staten Land, is about five leagues January. long, and as many broad. The Bay of Good Success lies about the middle of it, on the Terra del Fuego fide, and is discovered immediately upon entering the Streight from the northward; and the fouth head of it may be distinguished by a mark on the land, that has the appear ance of a broad road, leading up from the fea into the country: at the entrance it is half a league wide, and runs in weftward about two miles and an half. There is good anchorage in every part of it, in from ten to feven fathom, clear ground; and it affords plenty of exceed ing good wood and water. The tides flow in the Bay, at the full and change of the moon, about four or five o'clock, and rife about five or fix feet perpendicular. But the flood runs two or three hours longer in the Streight than in the Bay; and the ebb, or northerly current, runs with near double the strength of the flood.

In the appearance of Staten Land, we did not discover the wildness and horror that is afcribed to it in the account of Lord Anfon's voyage. On the north fide are the appearances of bays or harbours; and the land, when we faw it, was neither deftitute of wood nor verdure, nor covered with fnow. The inland feem's to be about twelve leagues in length, and five broad:

On

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On the weft fide of the Cape of Good Succefs, which forms the S. W. entrance of the January. Streight, lies Valentine's Bay, of which we only faw the entrance; from this bay the land trends away to the W. S. W. for twenty or thirty leagues; it appears to be high and mountain ous, and forms feveral bays and inlets.

2

At the distance of fourteen leagues from the Bay of Good Success, in the direction of S. W. W. and between two and three leagues from the fhore, lies New Ifland. It is. about two leagues in length from N. E. to S.W. and terminates to the N. E. in a remarkable hillock. At the distance of feven leagues. from New Inland, in the direction of S. W. lies the ille Evouts; and a little to the weft of the. fouth of this inland lie Barnevelt's two small flat iflands, close to each other; they are partly fur. rounded with rocks, which rife to different heights above the water, and lie twenty-four leagues from the Streight of Le Maire. At the distance of three leagues from Barnevelt's iflands, in the direction of S. W. by S. lies the S. E. point of Hermit's iflands: these islands lie S. E. and N. W. and are pretty high: from most points of view they will be taken for one island, or a part of the main.

From the S. E. point of Hermit's iflands to Cape Horn the courfe is S. W. by S. diftance three leagues.

The

1769. January.

-The appearance of this Cape and Hermit's iflands is reprefented in the chart of this coast, from our first making land to the Cape, which includes the Streight of Le Maire, and part. of Staten Land. In this chart I have laid down no land, nor traced out any shore but what I faw myself, and thus far it may be depended upon the bays and inlets, of which we faw only the openings, are not traced; it can, however, scarcely be doubted, but that most, if not all of them, afford anchorage, wood and water. The Dutch fquadron, commanded by Hermit, certainly put into fome of them in the year 1624: and it was Chapenham, the Vice-Admiral of this fquadron, who first difcovered that the land of Cape Horn consisted of a number of islands. The account, however, which those who failed in Hermit's fleet have given of these parts is extremely defective; and those of Schouton and Le Maire are still worse it is therefore no wonder that the charts hitherto published fhould be erroneous, not only in laying down the land, but in the latitude and longitude of the places they contain. I will, however, venture to affert, that the longitúde of few parts of the world is better afcertained than that of the Streight of Le Maire, and Cape Horn, in the chart now offered to the Public, as it was laid down by several obfervations of the fun and moon, that were made both by myself and Mr. Green.

The

The variation of the compafs on this coaft I found to be from 23° to 25° E. except near Barnevelt's islands and Cape Horn, where we found it lefs, and unfettled: probably it is disturbed here by the land, as Hermit's fquadron, in this very place, found all their compaffes differ from each other. The declination of the dipping-needle, when fet upon fhore in Success. Bay, was 68° 15′ below the horizon.

Between Streight Le Maire and Cape Horn we found a current fetting, generally very strong, to the N. E. when we were in with the shore; but loft it when we were at the distance of fifteen or twenty leagues.

1769. January.

On the 26th of January, we took our depar- Thurfd, 26. ture from Cape Horn, which lies in latitude 55° 53′ S. longitude 68° 13′ W. The fartheft fouthern latitude that we made was 60° 10, our longitude was then 74° 30′ W.; and we found the variation of the compafs, by the mean of eighteen azimuths, to be 27° 9′ E. As the weather was frequently calm, Mr. Banks went out in a small boat to fhoot birds, among which were fome albatroffes and fheerwaters. The albatroffes were observed to be larger than those which had been taken northward of the Streight; one of them measured ten feet two inches from the tip of one wing to that of the other, when they were extended: the fheer-water, on the contrary, is lefs, and darker coloured on VOL. II. X

the