178 



channel's mouth. 



June 182a 



scene of the Wager"'s wreck, I wished to examine its western 

 side ; but a strong N.N.E. wind did not permit my doing so, 

 without risking the loss of more time than could be spared for 

 an object of mere curiosity, I steered, therefore, to the south- 

 eastward for an inlet, which proved to be the Channel's Mouth 

 of the Spanish charts, and reached it, after running seventeen 

 miles from the south end of Xavier Island. We got no sound- 

 ings with ninety fathoms of line, when at its entrance ; but 

 making no doubt that we should get anchorage within, we left, 

 at the distance of half a mile, the islets of the northern point ; 

 passed between two others distant apart only one-fifth of a mile, 

 and shortly after anchored in twenty fathoms, sheltered by an 

 island to the westward, but with rocky islets around us in all 

 directions, except the S.E., some of which were less than a 

 cable'^s length from us.* Here we were detained until the 10th 

 of June by the worst v/eather I ever experienced : we rode 

 with three anchors down and the topmasts struck ; and though 

 we lay within a couple of hundred yards of the islands and 

 rocks, and less than half a mile from the shores of the inlet, 

 such a furious surf broke on them all, that it was but rarely 

 a boat could land, even in the least exposed situations the 

 inlet alForded. The evening of our arrival was fine, and we 

 put up the observatory tent, on the island to the westward 

 of us; but the weather was so bad, during the next day, 

 that we could effect no landing to remove it, although we 

 anticipated the result that followed, namely, its being washed 

 away. 



" In the short intervals of the horrible weather that pre- 

 vailed, boats were sent to the northern shore of the inlet, for 

 the purpose of procuring water and fuel; but though they 

 sometimes succeeded, by dint of great perseverance, in landing 

 through a raging surf, it was but seldom they could embark 

 the small casks (barecas) which had been filled, or the wood 

 they had cut. 



" Upon this shore the master observed remains of some 

 Indian wigwams, that seemed to have been long forsaken, and 

 * This group was afterwards called Hazard Isles, 



