CHAPTER XVIII. 



Adelaide's last cruise — Port Otway — San Quintiii — Marine Islands — 

 Unknown river or passage — San Tadeo — Isthmus of Ofqui — San 

 Rafael — Sufferings and route of the Wager's party — Channel's Mouth 

 - — Byron — Cheap — Elliott — Hamilton — Campbell — Indian Cacique — 

 Passage of the Desecho — Osorio — Xavier Island — Jesuit Sound — 

 Kirke's report — Night tides— Guaianeco Islands — Site of the Wager's 

 wreck — Bulkeley and Cummings — Speedwell Bay — Indigenous wild 

 potato— Mesier Channel — Fatal Bay — Death of Mr. Millar— Fallos 

 Channel — Lieutenant Skyring's illness — English Narrow — Fish — 



Wigwams — Indians — Level Bay Brazo Ancho — Eyre Sound — Seal 



— Icebergs — Walker Bay — Nature of the country — Habits of the 

 natives — Scarcity of population. 



I WILL now relate the principal incidents of the Adelaide's 

 last cruise. The following pages contain extracts from Lieu- 

 tenant Skyring's journal, and also notices obtained from other 

 sources. 



The Adelaide sailedfrom Chiloe on the 8th of December 1829, 

 made Cape Tres Montes on the 14th, and anchored in Port 

 Otway the same evening. Of this place Lieutenant Sky ring 

 writes : " Good anchorage, wood, water, and shell-fish (such 

 as muscles and clams), Port Otway affords : but no more. 

 Excepting in one or two sandy bights, a landing is hardly to 

 be effected ; walking along shore is impossible, and it is scarcely 

 practicable to enter the country, the land being so thickly 

 wooded, from the summits of the hills down to the water-side. 

 No soil is to be discovered ; the shrubs, and even the trees, which 

 are of large growth, rise out of moss, or decomposed vegetable 

 substances. The climate is very wet ; none but amphibious 

 animals were seen, among which hair-seals were numerous. 

 There were very few birds, excepting turkey buzzards ; and 

 not a trace of human beings ; indeed, I do not believe Indians 

 ever go there — (y) they rarely leave thedirect channels; as a proof 



(^pj For evidence that Indians have been thereabouts, see Byron's 

 account of the cave entered by the surgeon of the Wager. I believe 

 that curious place was either in, or close to, Port Otwav. — R. F. 



Y 2 



