are met with, coming from the east, or Cape Frio, are two that have a rocky appearance, lying near to each other, and at the distance of about four miles from the shore: there are also at the distance of three leagues to the westward of these two other islands, which lie near to each other, a little without the bay on the east side, and very near the shore. This harbour is certainly a good one; the entrance, indeed, is not wide, but the sea-breeze, which blows every day from ten or twelve o'clock till sunset, makes it easy for any ship to go in before the wind; and it grows wider as the town is approached, so that abreast of it there is room for the largest fleet, in five or six fathom water, with an oozy bottom. At the narrow part, the entrance is defended by two forts. The principal is Santa Cruz, which stands on the east point of the bay, and has been mentioned before; that on the west side is called fort Lozia, and is built upon a rock that lies close to the main; the distance between them is about three quarters of a mile, but the channel is not quite so broad, because there are sunken rocks which lie off each fort, and in this part alone there is danger: the narrowness of the channel causes the tides, both flood and ebb, to run with considerable strength, so that they cannot be stemmed without a fresh breeze. The rockiness of the bottom makes it also unsafe to anchor here; but all danger may be avoided by keeping in the middle of the channel. Within the entrance the course up the bay is first N. by W. half W. and N.N. W., something more than a league; this will bring the vessel the length of the great road; and N.W. and W.N.W. one league more will carry her to the Isle dos Cobras, which lies before the city: she should then keep the north side of this island close on board, and anchor above it, before a monastery of Benedictines, which stands upon a hill at the N.W. end of the city.

The river, and indeed the whole coast, abounds with a greater variety of fish than we had ever seen; a day seldom passed in which one or more of a new species were not brought to Mr. Banks: the bay also is as well adapted for catching these fish as can be conceived; for it is full of small islands, between which there is shallow water, and proper beaches for drawing the seine. The sea, without the bay, abounds with dolphins, and large mackarel of different kinds, which readily bite at a hook, and the inhabitants always tow one after their boats for that purpose.

Though the climate is hot, the situation of this place is certainly wholesome: while we stayed here the thermometer never rose higher than 83 degrees. We had frequent rains, and once a very hard gale of wind.

Ships water here at the fountain in the great square, though, as I have observed, the water is not good: they land their casks upon a smooth, sandy beach, which is not more than a hundred yards distant from the fountain; and upon application to the viceroy, a sentinel will be appointed to look after them, and clear the way to the fountain where they are to be filled.

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Upon the whole, Rio de Janeiro is a very good place for ships to put in at that want refreshment the harbour is safe and commodious; and provisions, except wheaten bread and flour, may be easily procured: as a succedaneum for bread, there are yams and cassada in plenty; beef, both fresh and jerked, may be bought at about two-pence farthing a pound; though, as I have before remarked, it is very lean. The people here jerk their beef by taking out the bones, cutting it into large but thin slices, then curing it with salt, and drying it in the shade it eats very well, and, if kept dry, will remain good a long time at Mutton is scarcely to be procured, and hogs and poultry are dear: of garden-stuff and fruit-trees there is abundance-of which, however, none can be preserved at sea but the pumpkin; rum, sugar, and molasses, all excellent in their kind, may be had at a reasonable price; tobacco also is cheap, but it is not good. Here is a yard for building shipping, and a small hulk to heave down by; for as the tide never rises above six or seven feet, there is no other way of coming at a ship's bottom.

sea.

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When the boat which had been sent on shore returned, we hoisted her on board, and stood out to sea.

CHAPTER III.-THE PASSAGE FROM RIO DE JANEIRO TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE STRAIT OF LE MAIRE, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE INHABITANTS OF TERRA DEL FUEGO. ON the 9th of December we observed the sea to be covered with broad streaks of a yellowish colour, several of them a mile long, and three or four hundred yards wide; some 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 microscope they appeared to be fasciculi of small fibres interwoven with each other, not unlike the nidus of some of the Phyganeas called Caddices; but whether they were animal or vegetable substances, whence they came, or for what they were designed, neither Mr. Banks nor Dr. Solander could guess. The same appearance had been observed before, when we first discovered the continent of South America.

On the 11th we hooked a shark, and while we were playing it under the cabin window it threw out and drew in again, several times, what appeared to be its stomach; it proved to be a female, and upon being opened six young ones were taken out of it; five of them were alive and swam briskly in a tub of water, but the sixth appeared to have been dead some time.

Nothing remarkable happened till the 30th, except that we prepared for the bad weather which we were shortly to expect, by bending a new suit of sails; but on this day we ran a course of one hundred and sixty miles by the log, through innumerable land insects of various kinds, some upon the wing and more upon the water, many of which were alive; they appeared to be exactly the same 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 some of these insects, particularly the Grylli Aranea, never voluntarily leave it at a greater distance than twenty yards. We judged ourselves to be now nearly opposite to Baye sans fond, where Mr. Dalrymple supposes there is a passage quite through the continent of America; and we thought from the insects 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 some time an appearance was seen in the east which so much resembled land, that we bore away for it, and it was more than two hours and a half before we were convinced that it was nothing but what sailors 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 trousers. The jacket is made of a thick woollen stuff called Fearnought, which is provided by the government. We saw, from time to time, a great number of penguins, albatrosses, and sheerwaters, seals, whales, and porpoises; and on the 11th, having passed Falkland's islands, 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-andthirty fathom, the ground soft, small slate stones. As we ranged along the shore to the S.E., at the distance of two or three leagues, we perceived smoke in several places, which was made by the natives, probably as a signal, for they did not continue it after we had passed by. This day we discovered that the ship had got near a degree of longitude to the westward of the log, which, in this latitude, is 35 minutes of a degree on the equator: probably there is a small current setting to the westward, which may be caused by the westerly current coming round Cape Horn, and through the strait of Le Maire, and the indraught of the strait of Magellan*.

The celebrated navigator who discovered this strait was a native of Portugal, and his name, in the language of his country, was Fernando de Magalhaens; the Spaniards call him Hernando Magalhanes, and the French Magellan, which is the orthography that has

been generally adopted: a gentleman, the fifth in descent from this great adventurer, is now living in or near London, and communicated the true name of his ancestor to Mr. Banks, with a request that it might be inserted in this work.

Having continued to range the coast, on the 14th we entered the strait of Le Maire; but the tide turning against us drove us out with great violence, and raised such a sea off Cape St. Diego that the waves had exactly the same 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 so that the bowsprit 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 everywhere hard and rocky and shallowing from thirty to twelve fathoms, I sent the master to examine a little cove which lay at a small distance to the eastward of Cape St. Vincent. When he returned he reported that there was anchorage in four fathom, and a good bottom, 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 anchoring ground, however, lay several rocky ledges that were covered with sea-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 surface, there should be this depth of water; but the weeds which grow upon rocky ground in these countries, and which always distinguish it from sand and ooze, are of an enormous size. The leaves are four feet 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 some of them, over which we sounded 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 swelled into an air vessel, and Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander called this plant Fucus giganteus. Upon the report of the master I stood in with the ship, but not trusting implicitly to his intelligence I continued to sound, 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 seek some port in the strait, where I might get on board such wood and water as we wanted.

Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, however, being very desirous to go on shore, I sent a boat with them and their people, while I kept plying as near as possible with the ship.

Having been on shore 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 grass, 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 stick, and its virtues are well known; it may be used for culinary purposes as a spice, and is not less pleasant than wholesome here is also plenty of wild celery and scurvy-grass. The trees are chiefly of one kind, a species of the birch, called Betula antarctica; the stem is from thirty to forty feet long, and from two to three feet in diameter, so that in a case of necessity they might possibly supply a ship with top-masts; they are of 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 persons who landed saw none of the inhabitants, but fell in with two of their deserted huts, one in a thick wood and the other close by the beach.

Having taken the boat on board I made sail into the strait, and at three in the morning of the 15th I anchored in twelve fathom and a half, upon coral rocks, before a small cove, which we took for Port Maurice, at the distance of about half a mile from the shore. Two of the natives came down to the beach, expecting us to land; but this spot afforded so little shelter that I length determined not to examine it; I therefore got under sail again about ten o'clock, and the savages retired into the woods.

At two o'clock we anchored in the bay of Good Success, and after dinner I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, to look for a watering-place, and speak to the Indians, several of whom had come in sight. We landed on the starboard side of the bay near some rocks, which made smooth water and good landing: thirty or forty of the

Indians soon made their appearance at the end of a sandy beach on the other side of the bay, but seeing our number, which was ten or twelve, they retreated. Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander then advanced about one hundred yards before us, upon which two of the Indians returned, and, having advanced some paces towards them, sat down as soon as they came up the Indians rose, and each of them having a small stick in his hand threw it away, in a direction both from themselves and the strangers, which was considered as the renunciation of weapons in token of peace: they then walked briskly towards their companions, who had halted at about fifty yards behind them, and beckoned the gentlemen to follow, which they did. They were received with many uncouth signs of friendship; and, in return, they distributed among them some beads and ribbons, which had been brought on shore for that purpose, and with which they were greatly delighted. A mutual confidence and good-will being thus produced, our parties joined the conversation, such as it was, became general; and three of them accompanied us back to the ship. When they came on board, one of them, whom we took to be a priest, performed much the same ceremonies which M. Bougainville describes, and supposes to be an exorcism. When he was introduced into a new part of the ship, or when any thing that he had not seen before caught his attention, he shouted with all his force for some minutes, without directing his voice either to us or his companions.

HEAD OF FUFGEAN.

They ate some bread and some beef, but not apparently with much pleasure, though such part of what was given them as they did not eat they took away with them; but they would not swallow a drop either of wine or spirits: they put the glass to their lips, but, having tasted the liquor, they returned it, with strong expressions of disgust. Curiosity seems to be one of the few passions which distinguish men from brutes; and of this our guests appeared to have very little. They went from one part of the ship to another, and looked at the vast variety of new objects that every moment presented themselves, without any expression either of wonder or pleasure; for the vociferation of our exorcist seemed to be neither. After having been on board about two hours, they expressed a desire to go ashore. A boat was immediately ordered, and Mr. Banks thought fit to accompany them: he landed them in safety, and conducted them to their companions, among whom he remarked the same vacant indifference, as in those who had been on board; for as on one side there appeared no eagerness to relate, so on the other there seemed to be no curiosity to hear, how they had been received, or what they had seen. In about half an hour, Mr. Banks returned to the ship, and the Indians retired from the shore.

CHAPTER IV.-AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED IN ASCENDING A MOUNTAIN TO SEARCH

FOR PLANTS.

On the 16th, carly in the morning, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, with their attendants and servants, and two seamen to assist in carrying the baggage, accompanied by Mr. Monkhouse the surgeon, and Mr. Green the astronomer, set out from the ship, with a view to penetrate as far as they could into the country, and return at night. The hills, when viewed at a distance, seemed to be partly a wood, partly a plain, and above them a bare rock. Mr. Banks hoped to get through the wood, and made no doubt but that, beyond it, he should, in a country which no botanist had ever yet visited, find alpine plants which

would abundantly compensate his labour. They entered the wood at a small sandy beach, a little to the westward of the watering-place, and continued to ascend the hill, through the pathless wilderness, till three o'clock, before they got a near view of the places which they intended to visit. Soon after they reached what they had taken for a plain; but, to their great disappointment, found it a swamp, covered with low bushes of birch, about three feet high, interwoven with each other, and so stubborn that they could not be bent out of the way; it was therefore necessary to lift the leg over them, which at every step was buried, ancle deep, in the soil. To aggravate the pain and difficulty of such travelling, the weather, which had hitherto been very fine, much like one of our bright days in May, became gloomy and cold, with sudden blasts of a most piercing wind, accompanied with snow. They pushed forward, however, in good spirits, notwithstanding their fatigue, hoping the worst of the way was past, and that the bare rock which they had seen from the tops of the lower hills was not more than a mile before them; but when they had got about two-thirds over this woody swamp, Mr. Buchan, one of Mr. Banks's draughtsmen, was unhappily seized with a fit. This made it necessary for the whole company to halt, and as it was impossible that he should go any farther, a fire was kindled, and those who were most fatigued were left behind to take care of him. Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Mr. Green, and Mr. Monkhouse went on, and in a short time reached the summit. As botanists, their expectations were here abundantly gratified; for they found a great variety of plants, which, with respect to the alpine plants in Europe, are exactly what those plants are with respect to such as grow in the plain.

The cold was now become more severe, and the snow-blasts more frequent; the day also was so far spent, that it was found impossible to get back to the ship before the next morning to pass the night upon such a mountain, in such a climate, was not only comfortless, but dreadful; it was impossible, however, to be avoided, and they were to provide for it as well as they could.

Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, while they were improving an opportunity which they had with so much danger and difficulty procured, by gathering the plants which they found upon the mountain, sent Mr. Green and Mr. Monkhouse back to Mr. Buchan and the people that were with him, with directions to bring them to a hill, which they thought lay in a better route for returning to the wood, and which was therefore appointed as a general rendezvous. It was proposed, that from this hill they should push through the swamp, which seemed by the new route not to be more than half-a-mile over, into the shelter of the wood, and there build their wigwam, and make a fire: this, as their way was all down hill, it seemed easy to accomplish. Their whole company assembled at the rendezvous, and, though pinched with the cold, were in health and spirits, Mr. Buchan himself having recovered his strength in a much greater degree than could have been expected. It was now near eight o'clock in the evening, but still good daylight, and they set forward for the nearest valley, Mr. Banks himself undertaking to bring up the rear, and see that no straggler was left behind: this may, perhaps, be thought a superfluous caution, but it will soon appear to be otherwise. Dr. Solander, who had more than once crossed the mountains which divide Sweden from Norway, well knew that extreme cold, especially when joined with fatigue, produces a torpor and sleepiness that are almost irresistible: he therefore conjured the company to keep moving, whatever pain it might cost them, and whatever relief they might be promised by an inclination to rest. Whoever sits down, says he, will sleep; and whoever sleeps, will wake no more. Thus, at once admonished and alarmed, they set forward; but while they were still upon the naked rock, and before they had got among the bushes, the cold became suddenly so intense, as to produce the effects that had been most dreaded. Dr. Solander himself was the first who found the inclination, against which he had warned others, irresistible; and insisted upon being suffered to lie down. Mr. Banks entreated and remonstrated in vain: down he lay upon the ground, though it was covered with snow; and it was with great difficulty that his friend kept him from sleeping. Richmond, also, one of the black servants, began to linger, having suffered from the cold in the same manner as the doctor. Mr. Banks, therefore, sent five of the company, among whom was Mr. Buchan, forward to get a fire ready at the first convenient place