Chap. VIII
Departure from Montevideo; run to Cape Virgin; entrance into the Straits; interview with the Patagonians; navigation to the isle of St. Elizabeth.
Nimborum in patriam, loca soeta furentibus austris. Virg. Æneid. Lib. I.
The Etoile comes down from Baragan to Montevideo.
The repair and loading of the Etoile took us up all October, and cost us a prodigious expence; we were not able to balance our accounts with the provisor-general, and the other Spaniards who had supplied our wants, till the end of this month. I paid them with the money I received, as a reimbursement for the cession of the Malouines, which I thought was preferable to a draught upon the king’s treasury. I have continued to do the same in regard to all the expences, at the various places we had occasion to touch at in foreign countries. I have bought what I wanted much cheaper, and obtained it much sooner by this means.
Difficulty of this navigation.
The 31st of October, by break of day, I joined the Etoile, some leagues from the Encenada; she having sailed from thence for Montevideo the preceding day. |1767. November.| We anchored there on the third of November, at seven in the evening. The necessity of finding out a channel, by constant soundings, between the Ortiz sandbank, and another little bank to the southward of it, both of which have no beacons on them, makes this navigation subject to great difficulties: the low situation of the land to the south, which therefore cannot be seen with ease, increases the difficulties. It is true, chance has placed a kind of beacon almost at the west point of the Ortiz bank. These were the two masts of a Portuguese vessel, which was lost there, and happily stands upright. In the channel you meet with four, four and a half, and five fathoms of water; and the bottom is black ooze; on the extremities of the Ortiz-bank, it is red sand. In going from Montevideo to the Encenada, as soon as you have made the beacon in E. by S. and have five fathoms of water, you have passed the banks. We have observed 15′ deg. 30. min. N. E. variation in the channel.
Loss of three sailors.
This small passage cost us three men, who were drowned; the boat getting foul under the ship, which was wearing, went to the bottom; all our efforts sufficed only to save two men and the boat, which had not lost her mooring-rope. I likewise was sorry to see, that, notwithstanding the repairs the Etoile had undergone, she still made water; which made us fear that the fault lay in the caulking of the whole water-line; the ship had been free of water till she drew thirteen feet.
Preparation for leaving Rio de la Plata.
We employed some days to stow all the victuals into the Boudeuse, which she could hold, and to caulk her over again; which was an operation, that could not be done sooner, on account of the absence of her caulkers, who had been employed in the Etoile; we likewise repaired the boat of the Etoile; cut grass for the cattle we had on board; and embarked whatever we had on shore. The tenth of November was spent in swaying up our top-masts and lower yards, and setting up our rigging, &c. We could have sailed the same day, if we had not grounded. On the 11th, the tide coming in, the ships floated, and we cast anchor at the head of the road; where vessels are always a-float. The two following days we could not sail, on account of the high sea; but this delay was not entirely useless. A schooner came from Buenos Ayres, laden with flour, and we took sixty hundred weight of it, which we made shift to stow in our ships. We had now victuals for ten months; though it is true, that the greatest part of the drink consisted of brandy. |Condition of the crews, at our sailing from Montevideo.| The crew was in perfect health. The long stay they made in Rio de la Plata, during which a third part of them alternately lay on shore, and the fresh meat they were always fed with, had prepared them for the fatigues and miseries of all kinds, which we were obliged to undergo. I left at Montevideo my pilot, my master-carpenter, my armourer, and a warrant-officer of my frigate; whom age and incurable infirmities prevented from undertaking the voyage. Notwithstanding all our care, twelve men, soldiers and sailors, deserted from the two ships. I had, however, taken some of the sailors at the Malouines, who were engaged in the fishery there; and likewise an engineer, a supercargo, and a surgeon; by this means my ship had as many hands as at her departure from Europe; and it was already a year since we had left the river of Nantes.
Departure from Montevideo.
The 14th of November, at half past four in the morning, wind due north, a fine breeze, we sailed from Montevideo. At half past eight we were N. and S. off the isle of Flores; and at noon twelve leagues E. and E. by S. from Montevideo; and from hence I took my point of departure in 34° 54′ 40″ S. lat. and 58° 57′ 30″ W. long. from the meridian of Paris. |Its position astronomically determined.| I have laid down the position of Montevideo, such as M. Verron has determined it by his observations; which places its longitude 40′ 30″ more W. than Mr. Bellin lays it down in his chart. I had likewise profited of my stay on shore, to try my octant upon the distances of known stars; this instrument always made the altitude of every star too little by two minutes; and I have always since attended to this correction. I must mention here, that in all the course of this Journal, I give the bearings of the coasts, such as taken by the compass; whenever I give them corrected, according to the variations, I shall take care to mention it.
Soundings and navigation to the straits of Magalhaens.
On the day of our departure, we saw land till sun-set; our soundings constantly encreased, and changed from an oozy to a sandy bottom; at half past six of the clock we found thirty-five fathom, and a grey sand; and the Etoile, to whom I gave a signal for sounding on the fifteenth in the afternoon, found sixty fathom, and the same ground: at noon we had observed 36° 1′ of latitude. From the 16th to the 21st we had contrary winds, a very high sea, and we kept the most advantageous boards in tacking under our courses and close-reefed top-sails; the Etoile had struck her top-gallant masts, and we sailed without having our’s up. The 22d it blew a hard gale, accompanied with violent squalls and showers, which continued all night; the sea was very dreadful, and the Etoile made a signal of distress; we waited for her under our fore-sail and main-sail, the lee clue-garnet hauled up. This store-ship seemed to have her fore top-sail-yard carried away. The wind and sea being abated the next morning, we made sail, and the 24th I made the signal for the Etoile to come within hail, in order to know what she had suffered in the last gale. M. de la Giraudais informed me, that besides his fore top-sail yard, four of his chain plates[58] had likewise been carried away; he added, that all the cattle he had taken in at Montevideo, had been lost, two excepted: this misfortune we had shared with him; but this was no consolation, for we knew not when we should be able to repair this loss. During the remaining part of this month, the winds were variable, from S. W. to N. W; the currents carried us southward with much rapidity, as far as 45° of latitude, where they became insensible. We sounded for several days successively without finding ground, and it was not till the 27th at night, being in the latitude of about 47°, and, according to our reckoning, thirty-five leagues from the coast of Patagonia, that we sounded seventy fathom, oozy bottom, with a fine black and grey sand. From that day till we saw the land, we had soundings in 67, 60, 55, 50, 47, and at last forty fathom, and then we first got sight of Cape Virgins59. The bottom was sometimes oozy, but always of a fine sand, which was grey, or yellow, and sometimes mixed with small red and black gravel.
Hidden rock not taken notice of in the charts.
I would not approach too near the coast till I came in latitude of 49°, on account of a sunken rock or vigie, which I had discovered in 1765, in 48° 30′ south latitude, about six or seven leagues off shore. I discovered it in the morning, at the same moment as I did the land, and having taken a good observation at noon, the weather being very fair, I was thus enabled to determine its latitude with precision. We ran within a quarter of a league of this rock, which the first person who saw it, originally took to be a grampus.
1767. December.
The 1st and 2d of December, the winds were favourable from N. and N. N. E.; very fresh, the sea high, and the weather hazy; we made all the sail we could in day time, and passed the nights under our fore-sail, and close-reefed top-sails. During all this time we saw the birds called Quebrantahuessos or Albatrosses, and what in all the seas in the world is a bad sign, petrels, which disappear when the weather is fair, and the sea smooth. We likewise saw seals, penguins, and a great number of whales. Some of these monstrous creatures seemed to have their skin covered with such white vermiculi, which fasten upon the bottoms of old ships that are suffered to rot in the harbours. On the 30th of November, two white birds, like great pigeons, perched on our yards. I had already seen a flight of these birds cross the bay of the Malouines.
Sight of Cape Virgins.
On the 2d of December in the afternoon, we discovered Cape Virgins, and we found it bore S. about seven leagues distant. |Its position.| At noon I had observed 52° S. lat. and I was now in 52° 3′ 30″ of latitude, and in 71° 12′ 20″ of longitude west from Paris. This position of the ship, together with the bearing, places Cape Virgins in 52° 23′ of latitude, and in 71° 25′ 20″ of longitude west from Paris. As Cape Virgins is an interesting point in geography, I must give an account of the reasons which induced me to believe that the position I give is nearly exact.
Discussion upon the position given to Cape Virgin.
The 27th of November in the afternoon, the chevalier du Bouchage had observed eight distances of the moon from the sun, of which the mean result had given him the west longitude of the ship, in 65° 0′ 30″ for one hour, 43 min. 26 sec. of true time: M. Verron, on his part, had observed five distances, the result of which gave for our longitude, at the same instant, 64° 57′. The weather was fair, and extremely favourable for observations. The 29th at 3 hours 57 min. 35 sec. true time, M. Verron, by five observations of the distance of the moon from the sun, determined the ship’s west longitude, at 67° 49′ 30″.
Now, by following the longitude determined the 27th of November, taking the medium between the result of the observations of the chevalier du Bouchage and those of M. Verron, in order to fix the longitude of the ship, when we got sight of Cape Virgins, the longitude of that Cape will be 71° 29′ 42″ west from Paris. The observations made the 29th afternoon, likewise referred to the place of the ship, when we made the Cape, would give a result of 38′ 47″ more westward. But it seems to me that those of the 27th ought rather to be followed, though two days more remote, because they were made in a greater number by two observers, who did not communicate their observations to each other, and however did not differ more than 3′ 30″. They carry an appearance of probability which cannot well be objected to. Upon the whole, if a medium is to be taken between the observations of both days, the longitude of Cape Virgins will be 71° 49′ 5″, which differs only four leagues from the first determination, which answers within a league to that which the reckoning of my course gave me, and which I follow for this reason.
This longitude of Cape Virgin is more westerly by 42′ 20″ than that which M. Bellin places it in, and this is the same difference which appears in his position of Montevideo, of which we have given an account in the beginning of this chapter. Lord Anson’s chart assigns for the longitude of Cape Virgins, 72° west from London, which is near 75° west from Paris60; a much more considerable error, which he likewise commits at the mouth of the river Plata, and generally along the whole coast of Patagonia.
Digression upon the instruments proper for observing the longitude at sea.
The observations which we have now mentioned, have been made with the English octant. This method of determining the longitude, by means of the distances of the moon from the sun, or from the stars in the zodiac, has been known for several years. Mess. de la Caille and Daprès have particularly made use of it at sea, likewise employing Hadley’s octant. But as the degree of accuracy obtained by this method depends in a great measure upon the accuracy of the instrument with which you observe, it follows that M. Bouguer’s heliometer, if one could measure great angles with it, would be very fit for rectifying these observations of distances. The Abbé de la Caille probably has thought of that, because he got one made, which would measure arcs of six or seven degrees; and if in his works he does not speak of it as an instrument fit for observing at sea, it is because he foresaw the difficulty of using it on board a ship.
M. Verron brought on board with him an instrument called a megameter, which he has employed in the other voyages he made with M. de Charnieres, and which he has likewise made use of on this. This instrument appeared to be very little different from the heliometer of M. Bouguer, except that the screw by which the objectives move, being longer, it places them at a greater distance asunder, and by that means makes the instrument capable of measuring angles of ten degrees, which was the limit of M. Verron’s megameter. It is to be wished, that by lengthening the screw, we were able to augment its extension still more, it being confined in too narrow bounds to allow a frequent repetition, and even to make the observations exact; but the laws of dioptrics limit the removing of the objectives. It is likewise necessary to remedy the difficulty which the Abbé de la Caille foresaw, I mean, that which arises from the element on which the observation must be made. In general, it seems that the reflecting quadrant of Hadley would be preferable, if it were equally accurate.
Difficulties on entering the straits.
From the 2d of December in the afternoon, when we got sight of Cape Virgins, and soon after of Terra del Fuego, the contrary wind and the stormy weather opposed us for several days together. We plyed to windward the 3d till six in the evening, when the winds becoming more favourable, permitted our bearing away for the entrance of Magalhaens’ Straits: this lasted but a short time; at half past seven it became quite calm, and the coasts covered with fogs; at ten it blew fresh again, and we passed the night by plying to windward. The 4th, at three o’clock in the morning, we made for the land with a good northern breeze; but the weather which was rainy and hazy intercepting our sight of it, we were obliged to stand off to sea again. At five in the morning, in a clear spot, we perceived Cape Virgins, and bore away in order to enter the straits; almost immediately the wind changed to S. W. whence it soon blew with violence, the fog became thicker, and we were obliged to lay-to between the two shores of Terra del Fuego and the continent.
Observation on the nature of the ground at the entrance of the straits.
Our fore-sail was split the fourth in the afternoon; and we having sounded, almost at the same moment, only twenty fathom, the fear of the breakers, which extend S. S. E. off Cape Virgins, made me resolve to scud under our bare poles; especially as this manœuvre facilitated the operation of bending another fore-sail to the yard. These soundings, however, which made me bear away, were not alarming; they were those in the channel, as I have since learnt, by sounding with a clear view of the land. I shall add, for the use of those who may be plying here in thick weather, that a gravelly bottom shews that they are nearer the coast of Terra del Fuego than to the continent; where they will find a fine sand, and sometimes oozy bottom.
At five o’clock in the evening we brought to again, under the main and mizen stay-sails; at half past seven of the clock the wind abated, the sky cleared up, and we made sail; but with disadvantageous tacks, which brought us further from the coast; and, indeed, though on the 5th the weather was very fair, and the wind favourable, we did not see the land till two in the afternoon; when it extended from S. by W. to S. W. by W. about ten leagues off. At four o’clock we again discovered Cape Virgins; and we made sail in order to double it, at the distance of about a league and a half, or two leagues. It is not adviseable to come nearer, on account of a bank, which lies off the Cape, at about that distance. I am even inclined to believe, that we passed over the tail of that sand; for as we sounded very frequently, between two soundings, one of twenty-five and the other of seventeen fathom, the Etoile, which sailed in our wake, made signal of eight fathom; but the moment after she deepened her water.
Nautical remarks upon the entrance of the straits.
Cape Virgins is a table-land, of a middling height; it is perpendicular at its extremity; the view of it given by lord Anson, is most exactly true. At half past nine in the evening, we had brought the north point of the entrance to the straits to bear W. from which a ledge of rocks extends a league into the sea. We ran under our close-reefed fore-top-sail and lower sails hauled up, till eleven o’clock at night, when Cape Virgins bore N. of us. It blew very fresh; and the gloominess of the weather, seeming to threaten a storm, determined me to pass the night standing off and on.
The 6th, at break of day, I ordered all the reefs out of the top-sails, and run to W. N. W. We did not see land, till half past four o’clock, when it appeared to us that the tides had carried us to the S. S. W. At half after five, being about two leagues from the continent, we discovered Cape Possession, being W. by N. and W. N. W. This Cape is very easily known; it is the first head-land from the north point, at the entrance of these straits. It is more southerly than the rest of the coast, which afterwards forms a great gulf, called Possession Bay, between this Cape and the next narrow gut. We had likewise sight of Terra del Fuego. The winds soon changed to the ordinary points of W. and N. W. and we ran the most advantageous tacks for entering the strait, endeavouring to come close to the coast of Patagonia, and taking advantage of the tide, which then set to the westward.
At noon we had an observation; and the bearings taken at the same time gave me the same latitude, within a minute, for Cape Virgins, as that which I had concluded from my observations of the third of this month. We likewise made use of this observation, to ascertain the latitude of Cape Possession, and of Cape Espiritù Santo, on Terra del Fuego.
Description of Cape Orange.
We continued to ply to windward, under our courses and top-sails, all the sixth; and the next night, which was very clear, often sounding, and never going further than three leagues from the coast of the continent. We got forward very little, by this disagreeable manœuvre; losing as much by the tides as we gained by them; and the 7th, at noon, we were still at Cape Possession. Cape Orange bore S. W. about six leagues distant. This cape is remarkable by a pretty high hillock; deep towards the sea-side, and forms to the southward the first gut, or narrow pass, in the straits61. |Its rocks.| Its point is dangerous, on account of a ledge which extends to the N. E. of the cape, at least three leagues into the sea. I have very plainly seen the sea break over it. At one o’clock, after noon, the wind having shifted to N. N. W. we made advantage of it to continue our voyage. At half past two we were come to the entrance of the gut; another obstacle attended us there; we were not able, with a fine fresh breeze, and all our sails set, to stem the tide. At four o’clock it ran six knots a-long side of us, and we went a-stern. We persisted in vain to strive against it. The wind was less constant than we were, and obliged us to return. It was to be feared, that we might be becalmed in the gut; exposed to the current of the tide; which might carry us on the ledges off the capes which form its entrance at E. and W.
Anchoring in Possession-bay.
We steered N. by E. in search of a good anchoring-ground, in the bottom of Possession-bay; when the Etoile, which was nearer the coast than we were, having passed all at once from twenty fathom to five, we bore away, and stood east, in order to avoid a ledge of rocks, which seemed to lie in the bottom, and in the whole circuit of the bay. During some time we found a bottom of nothing but rocks and pebbles; and it was seven at night, being in twenty fathom, the ground mud and sand, with black and white gravel, when we anchored about two leagues from the land. Possession-bay is open to all winds, and has but very bad anchoring-ground. In the bottom of this bay arise five hills; one of which is a very considerable one; the other four are little and pointed. We have called them le Pere et les quatre fils Aymond; they serve as a conspicuous mark for this part of the straits. At night we sounded at the several times of the tide, without finding any sensible difference in the depth. At half an hour past eight it set to the west; and at three in the morning to the eastward.
Passing the first goulet , or gut.
The eighth in the morning we set sail under courses, and double-reefed top sails; the tide was contrary to us, but we stemmed it with a fine N. W. breeze63. At eight o’clock the wind headed us, and we were obliged to ply to windward; now and then receiving violent squalls of wind. At ten o’clock, the tide beginning to set in westward with sufficient force, we lay to, under our top sails, at the entrance of the first gut, driving with the current, which carried us to windward; and tacking about whenever we found ourselves too near either coast. Thus we passed the first narrow entrance or gut64 in two hours; notwithstanding the wind was right against us, and blew very hard.
Sight of the Patagonians.
This morning the Patagonians, who had kept up fires all night, at the bottom of Possession-bay, hoisted a white flag on an eminence; and we answered it by hoisting that of our ships. These Patagonians certainly are the same which the Etoile saw in June 1766, in Boucault’s-bay, and with whom she left this flag, as a sign of alliance. The care they have taken to preserve it; shews that good-nature, a due regard of their word, or, at least, gratitude for presents received, are the characteristics of these men.
Americans of Terra del Fuego.
We likewise saw, very distinctly, when we were in the gut, about twenty men on Terra del Fuego. They were dressed in skins, and ran as fast as possible along the coast, parallel to our course. They seemed likewise from time to time to make signs to us with their hands, as if they wanted us to come to them. According to the report of the Spaniards, the nation which inhabits this part of Terra del Fuego, practises none of the cruel customs of most other savages. They behaved with great humanity to the crew of the ship la Conception, which was lost on their coast in 1765. They assisted them in saving part of her cargo; and in erecting sheds, to shelter them against bad weather. The Spaniards built a bark there of the wreck of their ships, in which they went to Buenos Ayres. The xebeck el Andaluz was going to bring missionaries to these Indians, when we left Rio de la Plata. Lumps of wax, being part of the cargo of the above ship, have been carried by the force of currents to the coast of the Malouines, where they were found in 1766.
We anchor in Boucault-bay.
I have already observed, that we were gone through the first gut at noon; after that we made sail. The wind was veered to S. and the tide continued to carry us to the westward. At three o’clock they both failed us; and we anchored in Boucault’s-bay, in eighteen fathom, oozy bottom.
Interview with the Patagonians.
As soon as we were at anchor, I hoisted out one of my boats, and one belonging to the Etoile. We embarked in them, being about ten officers, each armed with our muskets; and we landed at the bottom of the bay, with the precaution of ordering our boats to be kept a-float, and the crew to remain in them. We had hardly set foot on shore, but we saw six Americans come to us on horseback, in full gallop. They alighted about fifty yards from us; and immediately ran towards us, crying, shawa. When they had joined us, they stretched out their arms towards us, and laid them upon ours. They then embraced us, and shook hands with us, crying continually, Shawa, shawa, which we repeated with them. These good people seemed very much rejoiced at our arrival. Two of them, who trembled as they came towards us, had their fears very soon removed. After many reciprocal caresses, we sent for some cakes and some bread from our boats; which we distributed amongst them, and which they devoured with avidity. Their numbers encreased every moment; they were soon come to thirty, among whom were some young people, and a child of eight or ten years old. They all came to us with entire confidence; and caressed us all, as the first had done. They did not seem surprised to see us; and by imitating the report of muskets with their voice, they shewed that they were acquainted with these arms. They appeared attentive to do what might give us pleasure. M. de Commerçon, and some of our gentlemen, were busy in picking up plants: several Patagonians immediately began to search for them too, and brought what species they saw us take up. One of them seeing the chevalier du Bouchage occupied in this manner, came to shew him his eye, which was very visibly affected; and asked him by signs, to point out to him some simple, by which he could be cured. This shews that they have an idea, and make use of that sort of medicine, which requires the knowledge of simples, and applies them for the cure of mankind. This was the medicine of Machaon, who was physician to the gods; and, I believe, that many Machaons might be found among the Indians in Canada.
We exchanged some trifles, valuable in their eyes, against skins of guanacoes and vicunnas. They asked us by signs for tobacco; and they were likewise very fond of any thing red: as soon as they saw something of that colour upon us, they came to stroke it with their hands, and seemed very desirous of it. At every present which, we gave them, and at every mark of fondness, they repeated their shawa, and cried so that it almost stunned us. We gave them some brandy; giving each of them only a small draught: as soon as they had swallowed it, they beat with their hands on their throat, and by blowing with their mouths, uttered a tremulous inarticulate sound, which terminated in a quick motion of the lips. They all made the same droll ceremony, which was a very strange sight to us.
However, it grew late, and was time to return on board. As soon as they saw that we were preparing for that purpose, they seemed sorry; they made signs for us to wait, because some more of their people were coming. We made signs that we would return the next day, and that we would bring them what they desired: they seemed as if they would have liked our passing the night on shore much better. When they saw that we were going, they accompanied us to the sea shore; a Patagonian sung during this march. Some of them went into the water up to their knees, in order to follow us further. When we were come to our boats, we were obliged to look after every thing; for they got hold of all that was within their reach. One of them had taken a sickle, but on its being perceived, he returned it without resistance. Before we were got to any distance, we perceived their troops encrease, by the arrival of others, who came in full gallop. We did not fail, as we left them, to shout shawa so loud that the whole coast resounded with it.
Description of these Americans.
These Americans are the same with those seen by the Etoile in 1765. One of our sailors, who was then on board that vessel, now knew one of these Americans again, having seen him in the first voyage. They have a fine shape; among those whom we saw, none was below five feet five or six inches, and none above five feet nine or ten inches65; the crew of the Etoile had even seen several in the preceding voyage, six feet (or six feet, 4,728 inches English) high. What makes them appear gigantic, are their prodigious broad shoulders, the size of their heads, and the thickness of all their limbs. They are robust and well fed: their nerves are braced, and their muscles are strong and sufficiently hard; they are men left entirely to nature, and supplied with food abounding in nutritive juices, by which means they are come to the full growth they are capable of: their figure is not coarse or disagreeable; on the contrary, many of them are handsome: their face is round, and somewhat flattish; their eyes very fiery; their teeth vastly white, and would only be somewhat too great at Paris; they have long black hair tied up on the top of their heads; I have seen some of them with long but thin whiskers. Their colour is bronzed, as it is in all the Americans, without exception, both in those who inhabit the torrid zone, and those who are born in the temperate and in the frigid ones. Some of them had their cheeks painted red: their language seemed very delicate, and nothing gave us reason to fear any ferocity in them. We have not seen their women; perhaps they were about to come to us; for the men always desired that we should stay, and they had sent one of their people towards a great fire, near which their camp seemed to be, about a league from us; and they shewed us that somebody would come from thence.
The dress of these Patagonians is very nearly the same with that of the Indians of Rio de la Plata; they have merely a piece of leather which covers their natural parts, and a great cloak of guanaco or sorillos skins, which is fastened round the body with a girdle; this cloak hangs down to their heels, and they generally suffer that part which is intended to cover the shoulders to fall back, so that, notwithstanding the rigour of the climate, they are almost always naked from the girdle upwards. Habit has certainly made them insensible to cold; for though we were here in summer, Reaumur’s thermometer was only one day risen to ten degrees above the freezing point. These men have a kind of half boots, of horse-leather, open behind, and two or three of them had on the thigh a copper ring, about two inches broad. Some of my officers likewise observed, that two of the youngest among them had such beads as are employed for making necklaces.
The only arms which we observed among them, are, two round pebbles, fattened to the two ends of a twisted gut, like those which are made use of in all this part of America, and which we have described above. They had likewise little iron knives, of which the blade was between an inch and an inch and a half broad. These knives, which were of an English manufactory, were certainly given them by Mr. Byron. Their horses, which are little and very lean, were bridled and saddled in the same manner as those belonging to the inhabitants of Rio de la Plata. One of the Patagonians had at his saddle, gilt nails; wooden stirrups, covered with plates of copper; a bridle of twisted leather, and a whole Spanish harness. The principal food of the Patagonians seems to be the marrow and flesh of guanacoes and vicunnas; many of them had quarters of this flesh fastened on their horses, and we have seen them eat pieces of it quite raw. They had likewise little nasty dogs with them, which, like their horses, drink sea-water, it being a very scarce thing to get fresh water on this coast, and even in the country.
None of them had any apparent superiority over the rest; nor did they shew any kind of esteem for two or three old men who were in their troop. It is remarkable that several of them pronounced the Spanish words manana, muchacha, bueno, chico, capitan. I believe this nation leads the life of Tartars. Besides rambling through the immense plains of South America, men, women and children being constantly on horseback, pursuing the game, or the wild beasts, with which those plains abound, dressing and covering themselves with skins, they bear probably yet this resemblance with the Tartars, that they pillage the caravans of travellers. I shall conclude this article by adding, that we have since found a nation in the South Pacific Ocean which is taller than the Patagonians.
Quality of the soil in this part of America.
The soil in the place we landed at is very dry, and in that particular bears great resemblance with that of the Malouines; the botanists have likewise found almost all the same plants in both places. The sea shore was surrounded with the same sea-weeds, and covered with the same shells. Here are no woods, but only some shrubs. When we had anchored in Boucault’s bay, the tide was going to set in against us, and whilst we were on shore, we observed that the water rose, and accordingly the flood sets in to eastward. |Remarks on the tides in these parts.|This observation we have been able to make with certainty several times during this navigation, and it had struck me already in my first voyage. At half past nine in the evening, the ebb set to westward. We sounded at high water66, and found the depth was encreased to twenty-one fathoms, from eighteen, which we had when we cast anchor.
Second time of anchoring in Boucault bay.
On the 9th, at half an hour past four in the morning, the wind being N. W. we set all our sails in order to stem the tide, steering S. W. by W. we advanced only one league; the wind veering to S. W. and blowing very fresh, we anchored again in nineteen fathom, bottom of sand, ooze, and rotten shells. The bad weather continued throughout this day and the next. The short distance we were advanced had brought us further from the shore, and during these two days, there was not one favourable instant for sending out a boat, for which, the Patagonians were certainly as sorry as ourselves. We saw the whole troop of them collected at the place where we landed before, and we thought we perceived with our perspective glasses, that they had erected some huts there. However, I apprehend that their head quarters were more distant, for men on horseback were constantly going and coming. We were very sorry that we could not bring them what we had promised; they might be satisfied at a small expence.
The difference of the depth at the different times of tide, was only one fathom here. On the 10th, from an observation of the moon’s distance from Regulus, M. Verron calculated our west longitude in this anchoring place, at 73° 26′ 15″, and that of the easterly entrance of the second gut, at 73° 34′ 30″. Reaumur’s thermometer fell from 9° to 8° and 7°.
Loss of an anchor.
The 11th, at half an hour after midnight, the wind veering to N. E. and the tide setting to westward an hour before, I made signal for weighing. Our efforts to that purpose were fruitless, though we had got the winding-tackle upon the cable. At two in the morning, the cable parted between the bits and the hawse, and so we lost our anchor. We set all our sails, and soon had the tide against us, which we were hardly able to stem with a light breeze at N. W. though the tide in the second gut is not near so strong as in the first. |Passing the second gut.| At noon the ebb came to our assistance, and we passed the second gut67, the wind having been variable till three in the afternoon, when it blew very fresh from S. S. W. and S. S. E. with rain and violent squalls68.
We anchor near the isle of Elizabeth.
In two boards we came to the anchoring-place, to the northward of the isle of Elizabeth, where we anchored, two miles off shore, in seven fathom, grey sand with gravel and rotten shells. The Etoile anchored a quarter of a league more to the S. E. than we did, and had seventeen fathom of water.
Description of this isle.
We were obliged to stay here the 11th and 12th, on account of the contrary wind, which was attended with violent squalls, rain, and hail. On the 12th in the afternoon, we hoisted out a boat, in order to go on shore on the isle of Elizabeth69. We landed in the N. E. part of the island. Its coasts are high and steep, except at the S. W. and S. E. points, where the shore is low. However, one may land in every part of it, as there is always a small slip of flat land under the high perpendicular shores. The soil of the isle is very dry; we found no other water than that of a little pool in the S. W. part of the isle, but it was very brackish. We likewise saw several dried marshes, where the earth is in some places covered with a thin crust of salt. We found some bustards, but they were in small number, and so very shy, that we were never able to come near enough to shoot them: they were however sitting on their eggs. It appears that the savages come upon this island. We found a dead dog, some marks of fire places, and the remnants of shells, the fish of which had been feasted upon. There is no wood on it, and a small sort of heath is the only thing that may be used as fuel. We had already collected a quantity of it, fearing to be obliged to pass the night on this isle, where the bad weather kept us till nine of the clock in the evening: we should have been both ill lodged and ill fed on it.