The Streight of Magellan
Index
Search
Contact us
deepened to 16 fathom. In the afternoon I sent out the master to examine the bay and a large lagoon; and he reported that the lagoon was the most commodious harbour we had yet seen in the Streight, having five fathom at the entrance and from four to five in the middle; that it was capable of receiving a great number or vessels; had three large fresh water rivers, and plenty of wood and celery. We had here tile misfortune to have a seine spoiled, by being entangled with the wood that lies sunk at the mouth of these rivers; but though we caught but little fish, we had an incredible number of wild ducks, which we found a very good succedaneum.
The mountains are here very lofty, and the master of the Swallow climbed one of the highest, hoping that from the summit he should obtain a fight of the South Sea; but he found his view intercepted by mountains still higher on the southern shore: before he descended, however, he erected pyramid, within which he deposited a bottle containing a shilling, and a paper on which was written the ship’s name and the date of the year; a memorial which possibly may remain there as long as the world endures.
In the morning of the 24th we took two boats and examined Cordes bay, which we found very much inferior to that in which the ship lay; it had indeed a larger lagoon, but the entrance of it was very narrow, and barred by a shoal, on which there was not sufficient depth of water for a ship of burden to float: the entrance of the bay also was rocky, and within it the ground was foul.
In this place we saw an animal that resembled an ass, but it had a cloven hoof, as we discovered afterwards by tracking it, and was as Swift as a deer. This was the first animal we had seen in the Streight, except at the entrance, where we
 |
Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 388, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/388.html