62 



HYDROGRAPHY. 



weather the coast of Western Patagonia to the north of Cape Pillar. 

 The gales that prevail during the winter season are from the west to 

 northwest : these have a tendency to force the navigator on the coast, 

 although there can be no apprehension of suffering from a lee shore. 

 Yet I deem it safer to avoid the chances of it, notwithstanding I was 

 successful in the course I took. It ought to be recollected, that after 

 getting to the north of the parallel of 40° the most stormy latitudes 

 have been passed, and the navigator is relieved from his excessive toil 

 and watching. 



On the whole, although the passage around Cape Horn is boiste- 

 rous, I cannot bring myself to look upon it as so surrounded with 

 dangers as has frequently been represented, and do not believe that 

 the great precautions recommended to be taken are necessary ; at 

 the same time, the navigator should not be off his guard, or avoid 

 putting his vessel in the best possible condition to meet with bad 

 weather. The precautions alluded to, however, are the striking be- 

 low of the guns, and other like acts. The ordinary winter weather 

 experienced by vessels navigating our own coast and the North Atlantic, 

 is as severe as that encountered in passing the Cape. To draw a 

 comparison between the two would be impossible, they have so few 

 points of similarity. The exposure, however, in passing round the 

 latter is little when compared with the former. 



By the ordinary route pursued, doubling the eastern end of Staten 

 Land (Cape St. John), it frequently takes from 20 to 25 days — say 

 from the longitude of 62° to 80° west, on the parallel of 54° south, 

 a distance of about six hundred miles. Anything short of this time 

 may be considered a good passage, supposing a vessel to meet with a 

 full share of boisterous weather : there are times, however, when the 

 weather is equal to that of the tropics ; indeed, on our first arrival off 

 this dreaded promontory, it was of this character, but our stay was 

 long enough in these desolate regions to satisfy every one that its 

 fickleness is not to be surpassed in any quarter of the globe. 



The current from Cape Horn to Valparaiso was south 72° east, 364 

 miles. 



The wind hauled to the southward and eastward, in the latitude 

 of 36° south. 



Anchoring on the western coast of Tierra del Fuego is to be avoided. 

 Noir Island is a dangerous anchorage, as was sufficiently proved by 

 the Belief. For an account of her disasters, see Narrative, Vol. I, 

 page 161. 



