VOLCANO ON TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



By six o'clock in the morning of the 26th of 

 November, we had approached within ten or twelve 

 miles of Cape Horn ; and in sailing round to enter 

 the Pacific, had an opportunity of seeing it on a 

 variety of bearings. Under every aspect, it pre- 

 sents a bold and majestic appearance, worthy of 

 the limit to such a continent. It is a high, pre- 

 cipitous, black rock, conspicuously raised above 

 all the neighbouring land, utterly destitute of 

 vegetation, and extending far into the sea in bleak 

 and solitary grandeur. 



As little interest would be taken in the details 

 of a voyage unaccompanied by hardships or 

 dangers, it may be sufficient here to state, that, 

 after struggling for a fortnight against the preva- 

 lent westerly winds, during which we reached at 

 one time the latitude of 62° south, we succeeded in 

 getting sufficiently far into the Pacific, to be able 

 to haul to the northward, and to steer a direct 

 course for Chili, without apprehension of being 

 again driven towards the land about Cape Horn ; 

 an embarrassment in which the early voyagers 

 were frequently involved. 



In justice, however, to those persevering men, 



forests had been burned for many leagues, and as we were 

 not far from the place where a volcano was supposed to 

 exist, in consequence of flames having been seen by a 

 ship passing Cape Horn ; it occurred to me that some 

 conflagration, like that of which we found the signs, 

 might have caused appearances resembling the eruption 

 of a distant volcano. I have since been confirmed in this 

 idea," adds Captain Fitz-Roy, " from having witnessed a 

 volcano in eruption, and, not long afterwards, a conflagra- 

 tion, devouring many miles of mountain forest ; both of 

 which, at a distance, showed lines of fire, fitful flashes, 

 and sudden gleams. Persons who have witnessed a forest 

 burning on the side of a mountain, will easily perceive 

 how, when seen from a distance, it may resemble the 

 eruption of a volcano ; but to those who have not seen 

 fire on such a scale, I may remark that each gust of wind, 

 or temporary calm ; each thick wood, or comparatively 

 barren space, augments or deadens the flames so sud- 

 denly, as the fire sweeps along the mountain side, that, at 

 a distance of fifty miles or more, the deception may be 

 complete." Vol. ii. p. 203. 



This is very ingenious, certainly, but I do not think it 

 conclusive. The light which we saw appeared most 

 decidedly to be produced by periodical eruptions of red- 

 hot cinders, or stones, such as I have frequently seen 

 thrown up from Mount Vesuvius. The opinion of every 

 officer on board the Conway was that the appearance 

 could not be caused by a forest on fire, as it was not 

 thought possible to conceive how the wind could produce 

 such remarkable and such regular changes in brilliancy. 

 Captain Fitz-Roy, however, though one of the most per- 

 severing and accomplished of surveyors, could find in 

 those regions no volcanic mountain in the position laid 

 down by me. I cannot account for this discordance be- 

 tween us, except by supposing that the observations made 

 by me on board the Conway, for ascertaining the place of 

 the volcano, were not made with sufficient accuracy — for 

 of the existence of an active volcano in that region in 1820, 

 I have still not the smallest doubt. Captain Fitz-Roy's 

 authority as to its non-existence in the spot assigned to it 

 by me is, of course, decisive, but a careful examination of 

 the published account of his voyage leaves the impression 

 on my mind that there are many spots, still unexamined, 

 where there is ample room for a volcanic mountain. The 

 following remarkable passage in Captain Fitz-Roy's in- 

 valuable narrative, when speaking of the rocks not far 

 from the district in question, is worthy of being borne in 

 mind by future investigators. «• Some curious effects of 

 volcanic action were observed, besides masses of conglo- 

 merate, such as I had not noticed in any other part of 

 Tierra del Fuego."— bilz-Roy, vol. ii. p. 223. 



it is right to explain, that in their day the state of 

 nautical science was such, that the most able and 

 vigilant navigator could do little more than guess 

 his place on the globe, and was, therefore, at all 

 times liable to commit the most fatal errors in 

 shaping his course ; while, in consequence of the 

 more extended application of astronomy to navi- 

 gation, the use of time-keepers, and the great 

 improvement of other nautical instruments, the 

 modern seaman is enabled to traverse the ocean 

 with confidence, and without risk of being misled by 

 currents and other sources of erroneous reckoning, 

 which perpetually distracted the voyagers of old. 



On the 19th of December we anchored in the 

 Bay of Valparaiso, the principal port on the coast 

 of Chili, having occupied thirty-eight days in the 

 passage from the River Plate. 



After a perilous and protracted voyage seamen 

 are ready to consider any coast delightful ; and it 

 was probably from such a cause that the early 

 Spanish adventurers named this place the Vale of 

 Paradise, a designation which its present appear- 

 ance by no means justifies. The Bay is of a 

 semicircular form, surrounded by steep hills, rising 

 nearly to the height of two thousand feet, sparingly 

 covered with stunted shrubs, and thinly-strewed 

 grass. The town is built along a narrow strip of 

 land, between the cliffs and the sea ; but as this 

 space is limited in extent, the buildings have 

 straggled up the sides and bottoms of the numerous 

 ravines which intersect the hills. A suburb called 

 the Almendral, or Almond Grove, larger than the 

 town itself, spreads over a low sandy plain about 

 half a mile broad, at the upper or eastern side of 

 the Bay. In the summer months, from November 

 till March, Valparaiso is a safe and pleasant an- 

 chorage ; but during winter, especially in June 

 and July, is subject to occasional hard storms, 

 blowing from the north, in which direction it is 

 open to the sea. 



We were fortunate in having reached Valpa- 

 raiso at a moment when the Christmas festivities 

 were at their height ; and multitudes of people 

 had been attracted from the country to witness 

 the bull-fights and other shows. On the evening 

 of Christmas day, which corresponds nearly with 

 our Midsummer, everybody had strolled abroad 

 to enjoy the cool air in the moonlight. Groups of 

 merry dancers were seen at every turn, — and 

 cro wds of people listening to singers bawling out their 

 old Spanish "romances" to the sound of a guitar ; 

 gay parties sauntered along laughing and talking at 

 the full stretch of their voices : wild-looking horse- 

 men pranced about in all quarters, mixing amongst 

 the people on foot, drinking and talking with them, 

 but never dismounting. From one extremity of 

 the town to the other, in short, along the base of the 

 cliffs, and all round the beach of the Almendral, 

 there was an uninterrupted scene of noise and 

 revelry. 



The bull-fights, which took place about four 

 o'clock, resembled anything rather than fights ; 

 but they made the people laugh, which was the 

 principal object ; and by bringing a crowd together 

 in a merry mood, certainly contributed quite as 

 much to the general happiness, as if they had 

 been exhibited in the usual sanguinary manner. 



The area in which the bulls were baited was a 

 square enclosure, or quadrangle, formed by a 

 temporary building about fifty yards across, rudely 



