198 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



Description of Juan Fernandez.— However, on the lOtli of June, in the after- 

 noon, we got under the lee of the island, and kept ranging along it at about 2 miles 

 distance, in order to look out for the proper anchorage, which was described to be 

 in a bay on the north side. Being now nearer in with the shore, we could discover 

 that the broken, craggy precipices, which had appeared so unpromising at a dis- 

 tance, were far from barren, being in most places covered with woods, and that 

 between them there were everywhere interspersed the finest valleys, covered with 

 a most beautiful verdure and watered with numerous streams and cascades, 

 no valley of any kind being unprovided with its proper rill. * * * At 4 in 

 the morning our cutter was dispatched with our third lieutenant to find out the 

 bay we were in search of, who returned again at noon with the boat laden with 

 seals and grass, for although the island abounded with better vegetables, yet the 

 boat's crew in their short stay had not met with them, and they well knew that even 

 grass would prove a dainty, as, indeed, it was all soon eagerly devoured. [They 

 were ill with scurvy. — H. W. E.] The seals, too, were considered as fresh pro- 

 visions, but as yet were not much admired, though they grew afterward into more 

 repiite, for what rendered them less valuable at this juncture was the prodigious 

 quantity of excellent fish which the people aboard had taken during the absence 

 of the boat. 



The island of Jiian Fernandez lies in the latitude of B'6° 40' sotith, and it is 110 

 leagues distant from the continent of Chile. It is said to have received its name 

 from a Spaniard who formerly jirocured a grant of it and resided there some time 

 with a view of settling on it, but afterward abandoned it. * * * The island is 

 of an irregular figure. * * * Its greatest extent is between 4 and .") leagues, and 

 its greatest breadth somewhere short of 2 leagues. The only safe anchorage at 

 this island is at the north.side. 



The northern part of this island is composed of high, craggy hills, many of them 

 inaccessible, though generally covered with trees.. The soil of this part is loose 

 and shallow, so that very large trees on the hills soon perish for want of root, and 

 are then easily overturned. * * -* The southern or rather the southwestern 

 part of the island, as distinguished in the plan, is widely difl:erent from the rest, 

 being dry, stony, and destitute of trees, and very flat and low compared with the 

 hills on the northern part. This part of the island is never frequented by ships, 

 being surrounded by a steep shore and having little or no fresh water, and besides 

 it is exposed to the southerly wind, which generally blows here the whole year 

 round, and on the winter solstice very hard. 



Vegetation of Juan Fernandez. — The trees of which the woods on the north- 

 ern side of the island are composed are most of them aromatics and of many 

 different sorts. There are none of them of a size to yield any considerable timber 

 except the myrtle trees, which are the largest on the island and supplied us with 

 all the timber we made use of. But even these would not work to a greater length 

 than 40 feet. The top of the myrtle tree is circular and appears as if it had been 

 clipped by art. It bears on its bark an excrescence like moss, which in taste and 

 smell resembles garlic, and was used by our people instead of it. We found here, 

 too, the plemento (palmetto V) tree, and likewise the cabbage tree, though m no 

 great plenty, and, besides, a great number of plants of various kinds which we 

 were not botanists enough either to describe or attend to. 



To the vegetables I have already mentioned, of which we made perpetual use, I 

 must add that we found many acres of ground covered with oats and clover. There 

 were also some few cabbage trees upon the island, as was observed before, but as 

 they generally grew upon the precipices and in dangerous situations, and as it was 

 necessary to cut a large tree for every single cabbage, this was a dainty that we 

 were rarely enabled to indulge in. 



The excellence of the climate and the looseness of the soil render this place 

 extremely proper for all kinds of vegetation, for if the ground be anywhere acci- 

 dentally turned up it was immediately overgrown with turnips and Sicilian 

 radishes. 



This may in general sufiBce as to the soil and vegetable productions of this place, 

 but the face of the country, at least the north part of the island, is so extremely 

 singular that I can not avoid giving it a particular consideration. 1 have already 

 taken notice of the wild, inhospitable air with which it first appeared to us and 

 the gradual improvement of this uncouth landscape as we drew nearer, till we 

 were at last captivated by the numerous beauties we discovered on the shore. 

 And I must now add that the inland parts of the island did in no way fall short of 

 the sanguine prepossessions which we first entertained in their favor, for the 

 woods which c-overed most of the steepest hills were free from all bushes and 

 underwood, and afforded an easy passage through every part of them: and the 

 irregularities of the hills and precipices in the northern part of the island neces- 



