158 GULF OF TRINIDAD. April 1828. 
between twenty-eight and thirty-three fathoms, sandy bottom. 
The weather was clear and fine, arid we were enabled to make 
observations, and take the bearings and angles, necessary for 
laying down the coast satisfactorily. 
«At noon we were in latitude 50° 12’ south, and in the 
meridian of Cape Tres Puntas, between which and a cape 
bearing from us N. 13° E. (magnetic), distant eight miles, 
there was evidently an inlet: this cape is marked on the chart 
as Cape William. The character of the land is the same with 
that which we had hitherto passed, bare, rugged, rocky moun- 
tains, with peaks, and sharply serrated ridges. From daylight 
to noon we had run twenty-one miles along the coast ; in that 
interval only one inlet was seen, which was in the latitude of 
50° 27 south, agreeing well with the ‘ West Channel’ of the 
Spanish chart. It was four miles wide at its mouth, and 
appeared to follow a winding course to the eastward. The land 
of Cape Tres Puntas curved in to the eastward, until it closed: 
with Cape William ; at dusk we were abreast of Cape William, 
and two leagues off shore, where we lay-to till daylight, as I 
wished to examine the inlet between it and Cape Tres Puntas, 
which subsequently proved to be Sarmiento’s Gulf of Trinidad. 
The old navigator thus describes its discovery : 
“<¢ At daylight, 17th of March, 1579, in the name of the 
most holy Trinity, we saw land, bearing E.S.E., ten leagues 
distant, towards which we steered to explore it. At mid-day, 
being near the land, we observed the latitude 493°, but Her- 
nando Alonzo made it 49° 9’. In approaching the shore we saw 
a great bay and gulf, which trended deeply into the land 
towards some snowy mountains. To the south there was a high 
mountain, with three peaks, wherefore Pedro Sarmiento named 
the bay ‘ Golfo de la Sanctisima Trenidad.’ The highest land 
of the three peaks was named ‘ Cabo de Tres Puntas 6 montes.’ 
This island is bare of vegetation, and at the water-side is low 
and rugged, and lined with breakers ; on the summit are many 
white, grey, and black-coloured portions of ground, or rock. 
Six leagues to the north of Cape Tres Puntas is the opposite 
side of the gulf, where it forms a large high mountain, backed 
