Junel828. scurvy — Adelaide — cape froward. 



145 



sick, as well as the unfavourable symptoms of their disease. 

 The Beagle's term of absence was, however, drawing to a close, 

 and I caused a rumour to be spread, that upon her appearance 

 we should quit Port Famine. To give a semblance of reality 

 to this report, the topmasts were ordered to be fidded, and the 

 ship otherwise prepared for sea, which had a manifest effect 

 upon the scorbutic, of whom several were in a bad stage of 

 that horrid disease, and many others were just attacked. We 

 found ourselves now, too, thrown on our own resources for fresh 

 food : scarcely a fish was taken with the hook, and the seine, 

 although frequently shot, never caught anything. Of birds, 

 only a few hawks and small finches were procured, which were 

 all reserved for the sick, the greater number of whom lived 

 on shore, at the tents, where they might walk about, and amuse 

 themselves as they pleased. 



The Adelaide returned from Bougainville Harbour on the 

 18th of June, having succeeded in the object for which she 

 was sent. The extremity of Cape Froward, a bluff* head, over 

 which is a round- topped hill (precisely the French ' Morre') 

 is what Sarmiento called the Morro de Santa Agueda. Any 

 name given by this excellent old navigator is too classical and 

 valuable to be omitted ; therefore, while the extremity itself 

 may retain the modern appellation of Cape Froward, the moun- 

 tain by which it is formed may still be allowed to keep his 

 distinction. Behind it, the land rises to a higher ridge, the 

 edge of which is remarkably serrated, and probably of a slaty 

 character. 



The specimens procured from the Cape were clay-slate, 

 much intermixed with iron pyrites, and crossed by small veins 

 of white quartz. Of the anchorages examined by Mr. Graves, 

 Bougainville Harbour, better known to sealers by the name of 

 JacFs Cove, or Harbour, is the most sheltered. 



It is surrounded on all sides by high precipitous hills, 

 thickly clothed with trees. The depth is moderate, and the 

 water so beautifully clear, that the anchors, and even shells 

 and stones, were distinctly seen upon the bottom. It was here 

 that Bougainville procured wood for the use of the settlement 



VOL. I. L 



