62 



MAGDALEN CHANNEL. 



Feb. 1827. 



unless, indeed, they trade with the Patagonian Indians ; but 

 such is the poverty of the Fuegians, they can scarcely possess 

 any thing of value sufficient to exchange with the goods of their 

 northern neighbours, unless it be iron pyrites, which I think 

 is not found in the open country inhabited by the Patagonian 

 Indians, and, from the facility with which it yields sparks of 

 fire, must be an object of importance. 



We were not a little amused by the surprise which these 

 natives showed at the things in our possession, and by the 

 effect produced in their countenances when they saw any thing 

 extraordinary : the expression was not that of joy or surprise, 

 but a sort of vacant, stupified, stare at each other. They must 

 have been very suspicious of our intentions, or very much 

 excited by what they had seen during the day, as throughout 

 the night an incessant chattering of voices was heard on shore, 

 interrupted only by the barking of their dogs. 



Looking down the Magdalen Inlet, we saw two openings, 

 which, while the hills were enveloped in mist, had the ap- 

 pearance of being channels. We proceeded for some distance 

 into the more westerly of the two, but found that it was merely 

 a sound, terminated by high land. The boat was then steered 

 under a steep mass of black mountainous land,* the summit 

 of which is divided into three peaks, which Sarmiento called 

 ' El Pan de Azucar de los Boquerones' (the Sugar-loaf of the 

 Openings). We ran southward, fifteen miles down this sound, 

 and reached the Labyrinth Islands ; but finding there no suitable 

 anchorage, resumed our course towards the bottom of what we 

 thought another sound, terminated by mountains. At noon, 

 the furthest point, on the west shore, which we called Cape 

 Turn, was within three miles of us, and we should soon have 

 discovered the continuation of the channel (as it has since been 

 proved) ; but a breeze set in from the S.W., and in a short time 

 it blew so strong as to oblige us to turn back. ' Willi waws' 

 and baffling eddy winds kept us seven hours under Mount 

 Boqueron. These squalls were at first alarming, but by taking 

 in all sail, before they passed, we sustained no injury. At sun- 

 * Mount Boqueron. 



