CHA P. III. The Passage from Rio de Janeiro to the Entrance of the ON the Inhabitants of Terra del Fuego. 1768. December. N the 9th of December, we observed the fea to be covered with broad ftreaks of a yellowish colour, several of them a mile long, and three or four hundred yards wide: Friday 9. fome of the water thus coloured was taken up, and found to be full of innumerable atoms pointed at the end, of a yellowish colour, and none more than a quarter of a line, or the fortieth part of an inch long: in the microfcope they appeared to be Fafciculi of fmall fibres interwoven with each other, not unlike the nidus of fome of the Phyganeas, called Caddices; but whether they were animal or vegetable fubftances, whence they came, or for what they were defigned, neither Mr. Banks nor Dr. Solander could guefs. The fame appearance had been obferved before, when we firft difcovered the continent of South America.· On the 11th we hooked a fhark, and while we were play- Suəday 17. ing it under the cabbin window, it threw out, and drew in again feveral times what appeared to be its ftomach: it proved to be a female, and upon being opened fix young ones were taken out of it; five of them were alive and swam brifkly in a tub of water, but the fixth appeared to have been dead fome time. Nothing remarkable happened till the 30th, except that Friday 30we prepared for the bad weather, which we were shortly to expect, by bending a new fuit of fails; but on this day we 1768. December. 1769. January. Tuesday 3. ran a course of one hundred and fixty miles by the log, through innumerable land infects of various kinds, fome upon the wing, and more upon the water, many of which were alive; they appeared to be exactly the fame with the Carabi, the Grylli, the Phalana, Aranea, and other flies that are seen in England, though at this time we could not be less than thirty leagues from land; and fome of these insects, particularly the Grylli and Aranea, never voluntarily leave it at a greater distance than twenty yards. We judged ourfelves to be now nearly oppofite to Baye fans fond, where Mr. Dalrymple fuppofes there is a paffage quite through the continent of America; and we thought from the infects that there might be at least a very large river, and that it had overflowed its banks. On the 3d of January, 1769, being in latitude 47° 17′ S. and longitude 61° 29′ 45′′ W. we were all looking out for Pepys' island, and for fome time an appearance was feen in the east which fo much refembled land, that we bore away for it; and it was more than two hours and an half before we were convinced that it was nothing but what failors call a Fog bank. The people now beginning to complain of cold, each of them received what is called a Magellanic jacket, and a pair of trowsers. The jacket is made of a thick woollen-fluff, called Fearnought, which is provided by the government. We faw, from time to time, a great number of penguins, albatroffes, and sheer waters, feals, whales, and porpoifes: and Wednef. 11. on the 11th, having paffed Falkland's iflands, we discovered the coast of Terra del Fuego, at the distance of about four leagues, extending from the W. to S. E. by S. We had here five and thirty fathom, the ground foft, fmall flate ftones. As we ranged along the shore to the S. E. at the distance of two two or three leagues, we perceived fmoke in feveral places, which was made by the natives, probably as a fignal, for they did not continue it after we had paffed by. This day we discovered that the ship had got near a degree of longitude to the weftward of the log, which, in this latitude, is 35 minutes of a degree on the equator: probably there is a fmall current setting to the weftward, which may be caused by the wefterly current coming round Cape Horn, and through the Streight of Le Maire, and the indraught of the Streight of Magellan *. Having continued to range the coaft, on the 14th we entered the Streight of Le Maire; but the tide turning against us, drove us out with great violence, and raised such a fea off Cape St. Diego, that the waves had exactly the fame appearance as they would have had if they had broke over a ledge of rocks; and when the ship was in this torrent, she frequently pitched, fo that the bowfprit was under water. About noon, we got under the land between Cape St. Diego and Cape St. Vincent, where I intended to have anchored; but finding the ground every where hard and rocky, and fhallowing from thirty to twelve fathoms, I fent the Mafter to examine a little cove which lay at a small distance to the caft ward of Cape St. Vincent. When he returned, he reported, that there was anchorage in four fathom, and a good bot tom, close to the eastward of the first bluff point, on the east of Cape St. Vincent, at the very entrance of the cove, to which I gave the name of VINCENT's Bay: before this an The celebrated navigator who discovered this Streight was a native of Portugal, and his name, in the language of his country, was Fernando de Magalhaens; the Spa niards call him Hernando Magalhanes, and the French Magellan, which is the orthography that has been generally adopted: a Gentleman, the fifth in defcent from this great adventurer, is now living in or near London, and communicated the true nac of his ancestor to Mr. Banks, with a request that it might be inferted in this work. VOL. II. G choring 1769. January. Saturday 14. ་ choring ground, however, lay feveral rocky ledges, that were covered with fea-weed; but I was told that there was not less than eight and nine fathom over all of them. It will probably be thought strange, that where weeds, which grow at the bottom, appear above the furface, there should be this depth of water; but the weeds which grow upon rocky ground in these countries, and which always distinguish it from fand and ooze, are of an enormous fize. The leaves are four foot long, and some of the stalks, though not thicker than a man's thumb, above one hundred and twenty: Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander examined fome of them, over which we founded and had fourteen fathom, which is eightyfour feet; and, as they made a very acute angle with the bottom, they were thought to be at least one half longer: the foot stalks were fwelled into an air veffel, and Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander called this plant Fucus giganteus. Upon the report of the Master, I stood in with the fhip; but not trufting implicitly to his intelligence, I continued to found, and found but four fathom upon the first ledge that I went over; concluding, therefore, that I could not anchor here without risk, I determined to feek fome port in the Streight, where I might get on board fuch wood and water as we wanted. Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, however, being very defirous to go on fhore, I fent a boat with them and their people, while I kept plying as near as poffible with the ship. Having been on fhore four hours, they returned about nine in the evening, with above an hundred different plants and flowers, all of them wholly unknown to the botanists of Europe. They found the country about the bay to be in general flat, the bottom of it in particular was a plain, covered with grafs, which might easily have been made into a large quantity of hay; they found also abundance of good wood and water, and fowl in great plenty. Among other things, of which Nature has been liberal in this place, is Winter's bark, Winteranea aromatica; which may easily be known by its broad leaf, shaped like the laurel, of a light green colour without, and inclining to blue within: the bark is easily stripped with a bone or a stick, and its virtues are well known: it may be used for culinary purposes as a spice, and is not lefs pleasant than wholesome: here is also plenty of wild celery and fcurvy grafs. The trees are chiefly of one kind, a fpecies of the birch, called Betula antarctica; the stem is from thirty to forty feet long, and from two to three feet in diameter, fo that in a cafe of neceffity they might poffibly supply a fhip with top-mafts: they are a light white wood, bear a small leaf, and cleave very straight. Cranberries were also found here in great plenty, both white and red. The perfons who landed faw none of the inhabitants, but fell in with two of their deferted huts, one in a thick wood, and the other close by the beach. 1769. January. Saturday 14. Having taken the boat on board, I made fail into the Streight, and at three in the morning of the 15th, I anchored Sunday 15. in twelve fathom and an half, upon coral rocks, before a fmall cove, which we took for Port Maurice, at the distance of about half a mile from the fhore. Two of the natives came down to the beach, expecting us to land; but this spot afforded fo little fhelter, that I at length determined not to examine it: I therefore got under fail again about ten o'clock, and the favages retired into the woods. At two o'clock, we anchored in the bay of Good Succefs; and after dinner I went on fhore, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, to look for a watering-place, and speak to the Indians, feveral of whom had come in fight. We landed on the ftarboard fide of the bay near fome rocks, which G 2 made |