THE STBAIT OF MAGELLAN. 367 



ahead !" and the mist opening for a moment disclosed a long 

 reef, over which a furious surf was breaking. Orders were 

 immediately issued to put the ship about, an operation which 

 fortunately was successfully accomplished, as, had she con- 

 tinued five minutes longer on her course, her fate, and probably 

 that of most of her inmates, would have been sealed. Subse- 

 quent examination of the charts rendered it, I believe, evident 

 that this spot, on which we were so nearly being wrecked, was 

 in the vicinity of Tucapel Point, to the south of which H.M.S. 

 "Challenger" was lost in 1835. 



The 5th was thick and misty in the morning, but the 

 weather cleared up in the course of the forenoon, and land 

 was sighted, enabling us to determine where we were ; and we 

 therefore steamed straight for Lota in the great bay of Arauco, 

 Captain Mayne having determined, before we left Ancud, to 

 stop there in order to take in a supply of fuel, there being ex- 

 tensive deposits of tertiary coal in that district. In the course 

 of the afternoon, as we were passing along near the coast, we 

 observed several large patches of discoloured water ; but, as I 

 did not succeed in procuring any for examination, I could not 

 ascertain the cause of the phenomenon. The land along which 

 we passed was thickly wooded, though not nearly so much so as 

 that at Chiloe, and some of the strata seen in section on the 

 cliffs were very obliquely inclined. There was a rather heavy 

 swell till we entered Arauco Bay, after which we had quiet 

 water, and we reached the little bay of Lota about eight p.m., 

 and soon after anchored. It was a lovely moonlight evening, 

 and the settlement presented a very striking appearance, from 

 the numerous lights of its copper-smelting furnaces, across 

 which shadowy human forms were to be seen moving, and 

 the columns of thick white smoke which were issuing from 

 the mouths of the chimneys. We found several ships lying at 



