Dec. 1834. de vea — sharp — cone creek. 



369 



accompanied by small barks, as tenders, to reconnoitre the 

 Gulf of Trinidad, and the western entrance of Magalhaens 

 Strait. De Vea made an examination of those places, and was 

 convinced, from the poverty of the land, that no settlement of 

 Europeans could be maintained there. One of the Spanish 

 barks, with a crew of sixteen men, was wrecked on the small 

 islands called Evangelists, at the west entrance of the Strait. 

 De Vea returned to Callao in 1767. — (Burney, iv. 76.) 



In 1681, the notorious Sharp anchored in a gulf, surrounded 

 by craggy mountains, whose tops were covered with snow, in 

 50°. 40'. south latitude ; where " the difference of the rise and 

 fall of the tide was seven feet perpendicular."" Sharp named 

 the anchorage ShergalFs Harbour, the sound he called English 

 Gulf; and the islands adjacent ''Duke of York"'s Islands." 

 The account of this buccaneer''s visit is sufficiently connected 

 with the object of this volume, to warrant my inserting it in 

 the Appendix, copied verbatim from that interesting work, 

 invaluable to seamen and hydrographers, Burney's History of 

 the Discoveries in the South Sea.* 



18th Dec. The Beagle weighed and sailed out of Vallenar 

 Road, after experiencing the shelter afforded by that anchor- 

 age, during a heavy gale from the south-west and southward. 



At day-light on the 20th we were off Cape Tres Montes : 

 having a fine day and smooth water, we surveyed the coast 

 between that promontory and San Andres Bay, but it became 

 dark before an anchorage could be gained. Next morning we 

 anchored in a narrow creek,-|- close by a singular cone (1,300 

 feet high), an unfailing landmark. Finding it a place difficult 

 to get out of, and not to be recommended, unless in distress, 

 we did not stay there long, but moved to a cove at the south- 

 west part of the hay. I While under sail for this purpose, advan- 



* In this extract from Burney (Appendix No. 23), there is a criticism 

 upon a hydrographical error, made by some copyist, M'hich is interest- 

 ing to me from its correspondence with what I suspect to have taken 

 place in the old charts of Nassau Bay and Cape Horn. — (See pages 

 122, 123.) 



t Cone Creek. + Christmas Cove. 



VOL. II. 2 B 



