1834.] BOAT-WRECKED SAILORS. 288 
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 laid 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 after- 
wards 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 whaling 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 harbour 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 suf- 
ferings had been very great, and one of their party had lost his 
life by falling from the cliffs, They were sometimes obliged to 
separate in search of food, and this explained the bed of the soli- 
tary man. Considering what they had undergone, I think they 
had kept a very good reckoning of time, for they had lost only 
four days. 
December 30th.— We anchored in a snug little cove at the 
foot of some high hills, near the northern extremity of Tres 
Montes. After breakfast the next morning, a party ascended 
one of these mountains, which was 2400 feet high. The scenery 
was remarkable. The chief part of the range was composed ot 
grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite, which appeared as if they 
had been coeval with the beginning of the world. The granite 
was capped with mica-slate, and this in the lapse of ages had: been 
worn into strange finger-shaped points. ‘These two formations, 
thus differing in their outlines, agree in being almost destitute oz 
vegetation. .This barrenness had to our eyes a strange appear- 
ance, from having been so long accustomed to the sight of an 
almost universal forest of dark-green trees. J took much delight 
in examining the structure of these mountains. The compli- 
cated and lofty ranges kore a noble aspect of durability—equally 
