March.] EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR. 247 



We also encountered great numbers of guanacoes, but they were very 

 shy. Our attention, however, was principally engrossed by minerals, 

 with which, I am convinced, these unexplored regions abound. I saw 

 the most unequivocal indications of copper, lead, and iron, of which I 

 brought home several specimens that were examined by some of our 

 most scientific men, who pronounced them to be equal to any they had 

 ever beheld. 



When we were about forty miles inland, in a north-west direction, 

 we came to a perpendicular cliff, about one hundred feet in height, from 

 which a mass of earth and rock had been detached to the height of 

 about seventy-five feet, leaving a stratum of oyster-shells, cemented into 

 a solid body, and completely petrified. With considerable difficulty, 

 and some small hazard, I procured a small portion of this petrified 

 mass, which I brought away with me, being only half a shell, and 

 weighing four pounds and two ounces. This cliff was at least four 

 thousand feet above the level of the sea. 



March 9th. — On our return to the Tartar we found her completely 

 ready for sea, so diligently had the crew laboured during our absence, 

 under the direction and superintendence of that worthy officer Mr. John 

 Nichols, of Salem (Massachusetts), who now commands a ship in the 

 East India trade, as he has done for several years past. I took this 

 young man from before the mast, and made an officer of him, because 

 his intelligence, fidelity, and uniform good conduct had convinced me 

 that such a step would render him still more useful, and place him in 

 a sphere more suitable to his talents. I was not deceived in my judg- 

 ment, and he came home first officer of the Tartar. He then went to 

 Salem to see his friends, and there he found a "friend indeed" in Na- 

 thaniel Silsby, Esq., of that place, who has been for many years a 

 senator for the state of Massachusetts. This enlightened statesman 

 and noble philanthropist immediately gave my friend Nichols the com- 

 mand of a ship, with the laudable view of aiding his elevation in the 

 world, and extending his sphere of usefulness. I would attempt to ex- 

 press my feelings on this subject, as regards Mr. Silsby, and many 

 other worthies like him, with whom it has been my good fortune to 

 become acquainted in the voyage of life ; but I fear that my unprac- 

 tised pen would instinctively run into a strain of adulation that is always 

 offensive to modest merit. I therefore shall " let expressive silence 

 speak their praise." 



March 10th. — On Friday, the 10th of March, we got under way at 

 one, P. M., and sailed to the north-east, with a fresh breeze from west- 

 north-west, and clear weather. At nine, P. M., we anchored in front 

 of the River St. Bartholomew, in three fathoms of water, two cables' 

 length from the western shore. Here I again left the vessel in charge 

 of my first officer, and with my former three companions made an ex- 

 cursion into the interior of Patagonia, as we all had a longing desire 

 to have an interview with the natives before we left the strait, having 

 heard and read so much of this gigantic race, as described by Magal- 

 hanes, Byron, and others. 



Like most of my contemporaries, I have treated these accounts in a 

 style of light burlesque or grave skepticism : not that I ever doubted 



