Dec. 1826. CAPE FAIRWEATHER—CHALK. 7 
of us. The wind veering to S8.S.W., we made about a west 
course. At day-light the land was in sight, terminating in a 
point to the S.W., so exactly like the description of Cape 
Virgins and the view of it in Anson’s voyage, that without 
considering our place on the chart, or calculating the previous 
twenty-four hours’ run, it was taken for the Cape itself, and, 
no one suspecting a mistake, thought of verifying the ship’s 
position. The point, however, proved to be Cape Fairweather. 
It was not a little singular, that the same mistake should have 
been made on board the Beagle, where the error was not dis- 
covered for three days.* 
From the appearance of the weather I was anxious to 
approach the land in order to anchor, as there seemed to be 
every likelihood of a gale; and we were not deceived, for at 
three o'clock, being within seyen miles of the Cape, a strong 
wind sprung up from the S.W., and the anchor was dropped. 
Towards evening it blew so hard, that both ships dragged 
their anchors for a considerable distance. 
On the charts of this part of the coast the shore is described 
to be formed of “chalk hills, like the coast of Kent.” To 
geologists, therefore, especially, as they were not disposed to 
believe that such was the fact, this was a question of some 
interest. From our anchorage the appearance of the land 
favoured our belief of the existence of chalk. The outline was 
very level and steep ; precipitous cliffs of whitish colour, strati- 
fied horizontally, with their upper part occasionally worn into 
hollows, strongly resembled the chalk cliffs of the English 
coasts. 
The gale prevented our landing for three days, when (19th) 
a few minutes sufficed to discover that the cliffs were composed 
* A similar error was made by one of the ships of the fleet under 
Loyasa in the year 1525. The Nodales also, in their description of the 
coast, mention the similarity of appearance in the two capes, Virgins and 
Fairweather. ‘ Y venido de mar en fuera a buscar la tierra facilmente 
podian hacer de Rio de Gallegos el Cabo de Virgenes,” (and in making 
the land Cape Virgins may easily be mistaken for the river Gallegos). 
—Viage de los Nodales, p. 53. 
