PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 33 



bling the common English adder is frequent, and a 

 small green snake was caught by one of the officers. 



The fish are not very numerous, only coming into 

 the bay with a particular wind. The number of 

 whales which guard the entrance, and the shoals of 

 seals, grampuses, and porpoises, which crowd the 

 bay, must destroy a great many. Shell-fish are an 

 exception to this scarcity, and being very large, 

 form no small portion of the food of those inhabi- 

 tants who live on the borders of the bay. Besides 

 the choros, a large muscle, and locas (concko lepus), 

 mentioned by Ulloa, there are several other small 

 species which are more esteemed than the large 

 choros, a number of razor, and some venus-shells. 

 Large sea-eggs are highly prized, and, like the 

 others, eaten raw. The smaller shell-fish are, various 

 sorts of limpets, turbos, neritas, murex, and some 

 others : there are also a great many crabs. 



In the survey of the Bay of Conception a shoal 

 was discovered by Lieutenant Belcher on the Penco 

 side, which is probably that upon which a vessel 

 struck some time previous, but which the boats of 

 the squadron could not afterwards find. It was 

 necessary to make some alteration in the position of 

 the Belen bank, from the manner in which it is laid 

 down in the Spanish charts, and the shoal said to 

 occur off the sandy point of Quiriquina does not in 

 fact exist. The western entrance was thoroughly 

 examined, and found to be quite safe, though very 

 narrow, and should only be used in all cases of 

 difficulty in weathering Paxaros Niiios, with a north- 

 erly wind. The bay of St. Vincent does not appear 

 to me to afford security to any vessel of more than 

 a hundred tons with a strong westerly wind ; and I 



VOL. I. D 



October, 

 1825. 



