CHAPTER II. 



Enter the Straits of Mag-alhaens (or Magellan), and anchor off Cape 

 Possession — First Narrow — Gre'i^or}'- Bay — Patagonian Indians — 

 Second Narrow — Elizabeth Island — Fresh\vater Bay — Fueg-ian 

 Indians — Arrival at Port Famine. 



A GONTRARY tide and light winds detained us at anchor 

 near Cape Virgins until four ©''clock in the afternoon, when, 

 with the turn of the tide, a light air carried us past Dungeness 

 Point, aptly named by Wallis from its resemblance to that in 

 the English Channel. A great number of seals were huddled 

 together upon the bank, above the wash of the tide, whilst 

 others were sporting about in the surf. Cape Possession was 

 in sight, and with the wind and tide in our favour we pro- 

 ceeded until ten o'clock, when the anchor was dropped. At 

 daylight we found ourselves six miles to the eastward of the 

 cape. The anchor was then weighed, and was again dropped 

 at three miles from the cape until the afternoon, when v/e 

 made another attempt ; but lost ground, and anchored a third 

 time. Before night a fourth attempt was made, but the tide 

 prevented our making any advance, and we again anchored. 



Mount Aymond* and " his four sons,'*'' or (according to the 

 old quaint nomenclature) the Asses'* Ears, had been in sight all 

 day, as well as a small hummock of land on the S.W. horizon, 

 which afterwards proved to be the peaked hillock upon Cape 

 Orange, at the south side of the entrance to the First Narrow^ 



At this anchorage the tide fell thirty feet, but the strength 

 of the current, compared with the rate at which we afterwards 

 found it to run, was inconsiderable Here we first experienced 



* A hill on the north shore of Possession Bay, having near it, to the 

 westward, four rocky summits, Avhich, from a particular point of view, bear 

 a strong resemblance to the cropped ears of a horse or ass. These are 

 described less briefly in the Sailing Directions. 



