344 TRES MONTES. Dec. 1834. 



terested 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 

 (though they afterwards were proved to have been ground- 

 less) 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 lain himself 

 down for his dreary night. 



December 28th. — 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 whaUng vessel, and had 

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

 afterwards 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 har- 

 bour was now discovered! 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 faUing from the clifi"s. They were sometimes 

 obUged to separate in search of food, and this explained the 

 bed of the solitary man. Considering what they had under- 

 gone, I think they had kept a very good reckoning of time ; 

 though they had lost four days, by making this the 24th 

 instead of the 28th. 



December 30th. — We anchored in a snug little cove at 

 the foot of some high hills, near the northern extremity of 



