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JUAN FERNANDEZ. Jan. Feb. 1830. 



received, by offering him and all his family a passage in 

 the Adventure, which he accepted ; and on the 17th we left 

 Chiloe. In our way we touched at Concepcion, and anchored 

 at Valparaiso on the 2d of January. 



We remained there until the 11th of February, and then 

 sailed on our return to Rio de Janeiro, with the intention of 

 passing though the Strait of Magalhaens, and taking that 

 opportunity of completing some few parts, which our former 

 surveys had left unfinished. As the breeze, which, on this 

 coast, blows with the constancy of a trade wind, would carry 

 us close to the island of Juan Fernandez, I determined upon 

 visiting it, for a few days ; and then proceeding again to Con- 

 cepcion. 



We reached Cumberland Bay, on the north side of Juan 

 Fernandez, on the 16th, and anchored, within two cables lengths 

 of the beach, in ten fathoms. 



I have seldom seen a more remarkable and picturesque view, 

 than is presented by the approach to Juan Fernandez. When 

 seen from a distance, the mountain of the ' Yungue"* (Anvil), 

 so called from its resemblance to a blacksmith'*s anvil, appears 

 conspicuously placed in the midst of a range of precipitous 

 mountains, and is alone an object of interest. It rises three 

 thousand feet above a shore, which is formed by an abrupt 

 wall of dark-coloured bare rock, eight or nine hundred feet in 

 height, through whose wild ravines, broken by the mountain 

 torrents, views are caught of verdant glades, surrounded by 

 luxuriant woodland. 



The higher parts of the island are in general thickly- wooded ; 

 but in some places there are grassy plains of considerable extent, 

 whose lively colour contrasts agreeably with the dark foliage 

 of myrtle-trees, which abound on the island. 



The Yungue is wooded, nearly from the summit to its base ; 

 whence an extensive and fertile valley extends to the shore, and 

 is watered by two streams, which take their rise in the heights, 

 and fall into the sea. 



This valley appears to have been formerly cleared and culti- 

 vated by the Spaniards, who had a colony here ; for the stone 



