1834.] BOAT-WRECKED SAILORS. 205 



next day a harbour was discovered, which on this dangerous coast 

 might be of great service to a distressed vessel. It can easily be 

 recognized by a hill 1,600 feet high, which is even more perfectly 

 conical than the famous sugar-loaf at Rio de Janeiro. The next day, 

 after anchoring, I succeeded in reaching the summit of this hill. It was 

 a laborious undertaking, for the sides were so steep that in some parts 

 it was necessary to use the trees as ladders. There were also several 

 extensive brakes of the Fuchsia, covered with its beautiful drooping 

 flowers, but very difficult to crawl through. In these wild countries it 

 gives much delight to gain the summit of any mountain. There is an 

 indefinite expectation of seeing something very strange, which, however 

 often it may be balked, never failed with me to recur on each successive 

 attempt. Every one must know the feeling of triumph and pride which 

 a grand view from a height communicates to the mind. In these little 

 frequented countries there is also joined to it some vanity, that you 

 perhaps are the first man who ever stood on this pinnacle or admired 

 this view. 



A strong desire is always felt to ascertain whether any human being 

 has previously visited an unfrequented spot. A bit of wood with a nail 

 in it, is picked up and studied as if it were covered with hieroglyphics. 

 Possessed with this feeling, I was much interested by finding, on a wild 

 part of the coast, a bed made of grass beneath a ledge of rock. Close 

 by it there had been a fire, and the man had used an axe. The fire, 

 bed, and situation showed the dexterity of an Indian ; but he could 

 scarcely have been an Indian, for the race is in this part extinct, owing 

 to the Catholic desire of making at one blow Christians and Slaves. I 

 had at the time some misgivings that the solitary man who had made 

 his bed on this wild spot, must have been some poor shipwrecked 

 sailor, who, in trying to travel up the coast, had here laid himself down 

 for his dreary night. 



December 28^. The weather continued very bad, but it at last 

 permitted us to proceed with the survey. The time hung heavy on 

 our hands, as it always did when we were delayed from day to day 

 by successive gales of wind. In the evening another harbour was 

 discovered, where we anchored. Directly afterwards a man was seen 

 waving his shirt, and a boat was sent which brought back two seamen. 

 A party of six had run away from an American whaling vessel, and 

 had landed a little to the southward in a boat, which was shortly after- 

 wards knocked to pieces by the surf. They had now been wandering 

 up and down the coast for fifteen months, without knowing which way 

 to go, or where they were. What a singular piece of good fortune it 

 was that this harbour was now discovered 1 Had it not been for this 

 one chance, they might have wandered till they had grown old men, 

 and at last have perished on this wild coast. Their sufferings had 

 been very great, and one of their party had lost his life by falling from 

 the cliffs. They were sometimes obliged to separate in search of food, 

 and this explained the bed of the solitary man. Considering what 

 they had undergone, I think they had kept a very good reckoning of 

 time, for they had lost only four days. 



