76 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS I NARRATIVE. 



from England to Seattle, was driven ashore and wrecked on the coast just 

 north of Port Desire. We saw Captain Bull and his crew of thirty-two 

 men at Gallegos after they had been rescued by the Argentine transport 

 Villarino, the same by which we had come from Buenos Aires to Gallegos. 

 The officer jocosely remarked that he had been round the Horn many times 

 and had always wanted to see the coast of Patagonia, and at last that wish 

 had been realized, though apparently not in the manner he desired, for in 

 conversation with me during a more serious moment he expressed a fear 

 that his certificate might be taken from him. I never learned what dis- 

 position was made of his case, but I trust he received no censure and 

 speedily received another vessel. For, from the difficulty we experienced 

 with our work throughout the month of September, I can readily appre- 

 ciate the great mental strain he was subjected to during all those days of 

 almost total darkness, prior to the time when his good ship foundered on 

 the bleak and cheerless coast near Port Desire. 



During the period of the vernal equinox, when the tides run exception- 

 ally high, the wind, as during most of this September, was unusually 

 calm for Patagonia. In the early morning before the fog settled down 

 over all, as we rode along the beach and looked eastward over the great 

 ocean, it presented a surface like that of polished silver thrown into a 

 series of long, parallel waves. On such occasions the average height of 

 the crest of each wave, as it came rolling in upon the shore, was three or 

 four feet. At frequent intervals, however, an especially high swell could 

 be seen forming far out at sea. As this moved landward its volume and 

 speed would be augmented and accelerated. So long as the depth of the 

 water continued sufficient to prevent friction against the bottom it would 

 move rapidly forward with a perfectly even and unbroken front. When, 

 however, the shallower areas near the shelving beach were reached, the 

 friction at the bottom would arrest the movement of the lowermost 

 stratum of water, while that of the uppermost would continue uninter- 

 rupted. Thus, as the water in the rear came rushing on, there would 

 result a piling up of the water in front, until the crest became actually 

 overhanging and raised to an altitude of eight, ten, or even twelve feet 

 above the base. Suddenly the crest would break and the great volume 

 of water would plunge forward and rush madly up the beach with a deep, 

 almost deafening roar, its irritated surface covered with a glistening mass 

 of foam and spray. 



