PASSAGES. 



68 



FROM VALPARAISO TO CA1LAO. 



From June 7th to 20th, 1839. 



Our stay in Valparaiso was twenty days. When this place was 

 first visited by American vessels, they anchored towards the head of 

 the bay, before the town ; this exposed them to all the violence of the 

 south winds during the summer season, and also during the northers 

 to the heavy sea that rolled in from that quarter. 



The requisite precaution in approaching this harbor is, to make the 

 coast to the southward. If it should be late in the day, and there is no 

 prospect of reaching an anchorage, it would be advisable for vessels to 

 keep off the land some 8 or 10 miles with the light on Point Angelos 

 bearing southeast, as they would then be beyond the influence of the 

 strong northerly current that sometimes prevails near the coast, and 

 within 6 miles of the land ; and in the event of calm, which is fre- 

 quently the case during the night, a vessel may be set very far to 

 leeward of the port before daylight by being exposed to it, and placed 

 in a somewhat critical situation. Near the beach of Concon, or that 

 of Quintera, the current is usually strongest about the time of new 

 and full moon, when a most remarkable increase of the surf occurs on 

 this coast ; indeed, as far as my observations have extended, the entire 

 west coast of South America is subject to this phenomenon. 



The anchorage is now under the bluff to the north of Point San 

 Antonio. During the winter season, thick, rainy weather, with fogs, 

 are frequent, attended with little or no wind, making it extremely 

 difficult to get out of the harbor or bay during its continuance. The 

 summer season is remarkable for the regular southeast wind : the 

 morning being usually calm and pleasant until about 11 o'clock, when 

 a breeze comes up from the southeast, gradually increasing to a strong 

 gale, with perfectly clear weather. During the continuance of these 

 high winds, the discharging of cargoes and even intercourse with the 

 shore are for the time suspended ; it becomes therefore necessary, in 

 anchoring in the bay, during the summer months, to give a longer 

 scope to the southeast cable ; and in the winter months, to moor with 

 the heaviest anchor to the northward and westward. 



Gales from the north, termed northers, occur seldom, once in several 

 years. In June, 1823, I experienced one of the most violent and 



