358 Geographical Collections. 



vations on the Isthmus of Panama ; and on his return down a small and 

 shallow river in a canoe, he fell overboard, and was drowned. It was, however, 

 for some time suspected that this gifted and meritorious officer had been 

 treacherously murdered ; a supposition which has been since proved to be 

 unfounded. 



Captain King's Travels in South America In a paper on South Ame- 

 rica, communicated on the 8th of last month to the Royal Geographical 

 Society, by Captain King, the author observed, that, considering the vast 

 extent of sea coast that comprises the southern part of this continent, it is 

 not a little surprising that, during the last century, it should have been 

 so frequently passed by without being examined or explored. To both 

 English and American sailors the intricacies and windings of its various 

 channels are well known ; but, with the exception of Mr Weddel's voyage, 

 geography has profited little by their knowledge of them. He gave a con- 

 cise account of the various authorities from which the charts of the coast 

 have hitherto been constructed, and remarked that those of Sir John Nar- 

 borough and Cardova are the most correct. Of the southern coast of the 

 archipelago of Tierra del Fuego, little is known, except from the accounts 

 of the Dutch Admiral Hermite, Captain Cook, and Mr Weddel. The 

 celebrated voyage of Sarmiento, which was performed at a time when the 

 whole western coast was quite unknown, was mentioned in terms of 

 admiration by Captain King, for its correct description. The perseverance 

 through all difficulties which was displayed by Sarmiento in this dangerous 

 coast, in the old fashioned and clumsy ships of his time, with the mutinous 

 crew he had to deal with, has certainly never been surpassed. 



The Cordillera of the Andes, which extends from the northern to nearly 

 the southern extremity of the continent of South America, decreases in ele- 

 vation as it reaches the higher southern latitudes. In the neighbourhood of 

 Quito, the mountains Chimborazo and Pinchincha rise to a height of nearly 

 2-2,000 feet. Near St Jago, in Chili, the Andes are not higher than 14,000 

 feet. At Conception, farther south, they are still lower, and at Chiloe they 

 average about 6000 feet. Between Chiloe and the Strait of Magalhanes, the 

 height is about 3000, with some mountains in one or two places, between 

 five and six thousand feet high. 



The Guaianeco Islands, which form the southern shore of the Gulf of 

 Penas, formed an interesting subject for the investigation of Captain King, 

 having been the place w^here the Wager, one of Lord Anson's squadron, was 

 formerly wrecked. The precise situation of the wreck. Captain King 

 observes, had hitherto been very vaguely known. A careful perusal, however, 

 of Byron's Narrative and Aguero's account of the missionary voyages in 1779, 

 will be sufficient to point out the place within a few miles. Captain King 

 considers it to have been on the north side, and near the western end of the 

 easternmost of the Guaianeco Islands, and which he consequently named 

 Wager Island. At Port Santa Barbara, seventeen miles to the south of 

 this group, a very old wormeaten beam of a vessel was found, which was 

 supposed by him to have once belonged to that vessel. It was of English 

 oak, and was thrown up above the high water mark upon the rocks at the 

 entrance of the port. The missionaries established there have frequently 

 found broken glass bottles, and other evident traces of the wreck of tlie 

 Wager. 



Among the principal discoveries made by Captain King, are two spacious 

 lakes, which extend to a considerable distance inland from the western shore 

 of the continent. One named the " Otway Water," is a large inland sea of 

 j;alt water, about 50 miles in length : this communicates by a narrow channel 

 with another, named the " Skyring Water," about 34 miles long and 20 

 wide. Another opening extended to the northwest from Skyring Water, 

 which Captain King had not time to explore. The tracks of horses were 



