306 



SHELLS SPANISH ACCOUNTS. Feb. 1830. 



found wild every where, and remind one of Lord Anson's 

 visit* 



Not only in its botanical productions does this island differ 

 from the Chilian coast, but also in its shells : the shell fish 

 being extremely scarce, and dissimilar in character. On the 

 rocks we found a patella and a small chama, but we saw no 

 mytilus. From the deep water I fished up some coral, and 

 attached to one fragment was a new species of arca.-|- The fish- 

 ing-lines brought up, from the depth of eighty fathoms, a 

 branch of coralline, to which an infinite number of a species of 

 caryophyllia were attached. The existence of coral is mentioned 

 in Mr. Barry's translation of the ' Noticias Secretas de Ame- 

 rica ; por Don J. J uan, y Don A. de Ulloa,' a work which con- 

 tains a long and, generally speaking, good account of the 

 island ; but their description of the anchorage does not agree 

 with ours. They say, " The distance between the two points, 

 which form the bay, is two miles, and its depth about half a 

 league; and, although the depth is nearly the same in all parts, 

 the best berth to moor ships is in the front of the ' Playa del 

 Este but it is necessary to be close to the stones of thebeach^ 

 for at one or two cables' length there are fifty fathoms water, 

 and the outer anchor is in the depth of seventy or eighty 

 fathoms ; but if the vessel is three or four cables off, it will be 

 necessary to drop the outer anchor in one hundred fathoms, 

 which, even with two cables an end, will scarcely secure the ship.'' 

 Now, at three cables' length from the beach, we had only 

 ten fathoms, our outer anchor was dropped in seventeen fathoms, 

 and in a line between the two points of the bay there is not 

 more than fifty fathoms. 



If the accounts of those Spanish officers were correct, the 

 earthquakes, which certainly affect these islands, must have 

 caused a considerable uprising of the base of the island; but, on 

 referring to the plan in Anson's voyage, the soundings in 1741 

 do not appear to have been different from ours. The innermost 

 ship, whose berth we occupied, is, in that plan, at anchor in 



* A nson's Voyage, p. 118. 



T Area angulata. See Zool. Journal, vol. v. p. 3.3n„ 



