82 



PERMANENT EQUIPMENT. 



July 



of which the encouragement of our brother- seamen was no 

 trifling inducement. 



While in harbour, a few alterations had been made in the 

 disposition of our guns and stores, as well as some slight 

 changes in the sails and rigging ; and as the Beagle's equipment 

 afterwards remained unaltered, I will here briefly describe it. 

 She was rigged as a bark ; her masts were strongly supported 

 by squarer cross-trees and tops, and by larger rigging than 

 usual in vessels of her tonnage.^ Chains were used where 

 found to answer, and in no place was a block or a sheave 

 allowed which did not admit the proper rope or chain freely. 

 There were large trysails between the masts, made of stout 

 canvas, with several reefs, and very useful we found them. On 

 the forecastle was a six-pound boat-carronade : before the ches- 

 tree were two brass six-pound guns : close to the bulwark on 

 each side of the waist were the ' booms and amidships two 

 boats, on the diagonal principle, one stowed inside the other, 

 and as close to the deck as possible; being secured by iron cranks, 

 or supports. Abaft the main-mast were four brass guns, two 

 nine-pound, and two six-pound : the skylights were large ; there 

 was no capstan ; over the wheel the poop-deck projected, 

 and under it were cabins, extremely small, certainly, though 

 filled in inverse proportion to their size. Below the upper 

 deck her accommodations were similar to, though rather bet- 

 ter than those of vessels of her class. Over the quarter- 

 deck, upon skids, two whale-boats, eight-and-twenty feet long, 

 were carried ; upon each quarter was a whale-boat twenty-five 

 feet in length, and astern was a dinghy. 



A few leagues southward of the port is a good situation 

 for enjoying a general view of the picturesque mountains in its 

 vicinity. When near the shore one only sees those of an inferior 

 order ; and it is not until an offing is gained that the bold and 

 varied outlines of the distant Organ Mountains,-|- the sharp 



* Two hundred and forty-two tons. 



t So called because they have a number of pinnacles, somewhat like 

 the pipes of an organ. 



