Dec. 1826. CAPE FAIRWEATHER — CHALK. 



7 



of us. The wind veering to S.S.W., we made about a west 

 course. At day-light the land was in sight, terminating in a 

 point to the S.W., so exactly like the description of Cape 

 Virgins and the view of it in Anson's voyage, that without 

 considering our place on the chart, or calculating the previous 

 twenty-four hours"" run, it was taken for the Cape itself, and, 

 no one suspecting a mistake, thought of verifying the ship's 

 position. The point, however, proved to be Cape Fair weather. 

 It was not a little singular, that the same mistake should have 

 been made on board the Beagle, where the error was not dis- 

 covered for three days.* 



From the appearance of the weather I was anxious to 

 approach the land in order to anchor, as there seemed to be 

 every likelihood of a gale ; and we were not deceived, for at 

 three o'clock, being within seven miles of the Cape, a strong 

 wind sprung up from the S.W., and the anchor was dropped. 

 Towards evening it blew so hard, that both ships dragged 

 their anchors for a considerable distance. 



On the charts of this part of the coast the shore is described 

 to be formed of " chalk hills, like the coast of Kent.'^ To 

 geologists, therefore, especially, as they were not disposed to 

 believe that such was the fact, this was a question of some 

 interest. From our anchorage the appearance of the land 

 favoured our belief of the existence of chalk. The outline was 

 very level and steep ; precipitous cliffs of whitish colour, strati- 

 fied horizontally, with their upper part occasionally worn into 

 hollows, strongly resembled the chalk chffs of the English 

 coasts. 



The gale prevented our landing for three days, when (19th) 

 a few minutes sufficed to discover that the cliffs were composed 



* A similar error was made by one of the ships of the fleet under 

 Loyasa in the year 1525. The Nodales also, in their description of the 

 coast, mention the similarity of appearance in the two capes, Virgins and 

 Fairweather. " Y venido de mar en fuera a huscar la tierra facilmente 

 podian hacer de Rio de Galleg-os el Cabo de Virgenes," (and in making 

 the land Cape Virgins may easily be mistaken for the river Gallegos). 

 -~ Viage de los Nodales, p. 53. 



