158 



CULF OF TRIKTDAD. 



April 1828: 



between twenty-eight and thirty-three fathoms, sandy bottom. 

 The weather was clear and fine, and we were enabled to make 

 observations, and take the bearings and angles, necessary for 

 laying down the coast satisfactorily. 



" At noon we were in latitude 50° 12' south, and in the 

 meridian of Cape Tres Puntas, between which and a cape 

 bearing from us N. 13° E. (magnetic), distant eight miles, 

 there was evidently an inlet : this cape is marked on the chart 

 as Cape William. The character of the land is the same with 

 that which we had hitherto passed, bare, rugged, rocky moun-» 

 tains, with peaks, and sharply serrated ridges. From daylight 

 to noon we had run twenty-one miles along the coast ; in that 

 interval only one inlet was seen, which was in the latitude of 

 50° 27' south, a<7reeinff well with the ' West Channel' of the 

 Spanish chart. It was four miles wide at its mouth, and 

 appeared to follow a winding course to the eastward. The land 

 of Cape Tres Puntas curved in to the eastward, until it closed 

 with Cape William ; at dusk we were abreast of Cape William, 

 and two leagues oiF shore, where we lay-to till daylight, as I 

 wished to examine the inlet between it and Cape Tres Puntas, 

 which subsequently proved to be Sarmiento's Gulf of Trinidad. 

 The old navigator thus describes its discovery : 



" ' At daylight, 17th of March, 1579, in the name of the 

 most holy Trinity, we saw land, bearing E.S.E., ten leagues 

 distant, towards which we steered to explore it. At mid-day, 

 being near the land, we observed the latitude 49i°, but Her- 

 nando Alonzo made it 49° 9'. In approaching the shore we saw 

 a great bay and gulf, which trended deeply into the land 

 towards some snowy mountains. To the south there was a high 

 mountain, with three peaks, wherefore Pedro Sarmiento named 

 the bay ' Golfo de la Sanctisima Trenidad.' The highest land 

 of the three peaks was named ' Cabo de Tres Puntas 6 montes.' 

 This island is bare of vegetation, and at the water-side is low 

 and rugged, and lined with breakers ; on the summit are many 

 white, grey, and black-coloured portions of ground, or rock. 

 Six leagues to the north of Cape Tres Puntas is the opposite 

 side of the gulf, where it forms a large high mountain, backed 



