PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 15 



filling the valleys and fissures, gave the barren pro- 

 jections a darker hue and a more rugged outline 

 than they in reality possessed. 



As we drew in with the land, the water became 

 discoloured, and specifically lighter than that in the 

 offing, whence it was concluded that some rivers 

 emptied themselves into the sea in the vicinity. In 

 the evening it became necessary to stand off the 

 coast; and we experienced the disadvantages of the 

 offing, by getting into the stream of the easterly 

 current, and by the increase of both wind and sea.* 

 We stood to the westward again as soon as it could 

 be done; and on the 26th were fifty leagues due 

 west of Cape Pillar, a situation from which there is 

 no difficulty in making the remainder of the passage. 



We now, for a time at least, bade adieu to the 

 shores of Tierra del Fuego, whose coast and climate 

 we quitted with far more favourable impressions 

 than those under which they were approached. 

 This, I think, will be the case with every man-of-war 

 that passes it, excepting the few that may be parti- 

 cularly unfortunate in their weather ; for early navi- 

 gation has stamped it with a character which will 

 ever be coupled with its name, notwithstanding its 

 terrors are gradually disappearing before the pro- 

 gressive improvement in navigation. It must be 

 admitted we were much favoured : few persons, 

 probably, who effect the passage, will have it in 



* It is a curious fact, that on this day, at a distance of only 

 fifty leagues from where we were, it blew a strong gale of wind, 

 with a high sea, which washed away the bulwark of a fine brig, the 

 Hellespont, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Parker, R. N., to 

 whom I am indebted for this and other interesting information on 

 the winds and currents encountered by him in his passage. 



