SALINAS—LIGHTNING. 



Jan. 1833; 



from Cape Blanco, to trace the coast, and look out for shoals 

 in the offing ; in doing which, they found numerous ' Sali- 

 nas' (extensive hollow places filled with salt), where the solid 

 mass of very white and good salt was several feet in thickness. 

 Guanacoes were numerous, but shy. On the rocks some fur- 

 seal were seen ; too few, however, to be worth a sealer's notice. 

 The following week was passed in examining St. George Bay. 

 Scarcely any stream of tide w^as found in its western part, 

 though the rise amounted to nearly twenty feet. About 

 Tilly road, where they landed, the mass or principal part of 

 the soil, where visible in cliffs or ravines, is loose sandy clay 

 (diluvium), with immense quantities of large fossil oyster shells 

 imbedded in it. These shells were found every where, even on 

 summits seven or eight hundred feet above the sea, and some 

 of them weighed eight pounds. 



A place honoured by the Spaniards with the name of Malas- 

 pina, and described as a port, was found to be a wretched cove, 

 full of rocks, hardly safe even for the Liebre. While moored 

 there, our party witnessed lightning set fire to bushes and 

 grass. The flames spread rapidly, and for two days, the face 

 of the country continued to blaze. Near Port Arredondo, Mr. 

 Wickham went to the tops of several hills ; he found the coun- 

 try unproductive, except of a few bushes, and yellow wiry 

 grass. There were no traces of natives. Very heavy rain fell 

 during the night of the 28th. I mention it thus particularly, 

 because some persons have said that rain never falls on the east 

 coast of Patagonia, in any quantity. 



The cove called ' Oven' is a singular place, being a parting 

 (as it were) in tlie solid rock, nearly a mile in length, but very 

 narrow, with four fathoms water in it at low tide. Surrounded 

 on all sides by precipitous hills, it is, indeed, an oven ; and 

 would injure a ship seriously, even more than other ports 

 on this arid coast, if she were to lie long in it ; as her seams 

 would all be opened, and her planks split by the heat and 

 drought. The water found here was so strongly impregnated 

 with salt-petre, that it was not drinkable ; but probably better 



