CHAPTER XIX. 



Sarmiento Channel — Ancon sin Salida — Cape Earnest — Canal of the 

 Mountains — Termination of the Andes — Kirke Narrow — Easter Bay 

 — Disappointment Bay — Obstruction Sound — Last Hope Inlet — 

 Swans — Coots — Deer — River — Lagoon — Singular eddies — Passage of 

 the Narrow — Arrival at Port Famine — Zoological remarks. 



" (April 1st). This morning the weather was very unset- 

 tled, squally, and thick : but as no delay could be admitted, 

 when there was a possibility of moving, we left at eight oVlock, 

 and followed the course of Sarmiento Channel. I have no doubt 

 that a passage exists eastward of Point San Gaspar, leading to 

 Collingwood Strait, and forming an island between that point 

 and Cape San Bartolome : but with the N.W. wind and bad 

 weather we then had, that bight was too leewardly for us to 

 venture into. 



The knowledge of an opening there could be of no great 

 importance, yet had I been able to find an anchorage near Cape 

 San Bartolome I would gladly have profited by it, in order 

 to assure myself of the existence of a passage. In hauling 

 round, the appearance of the land favoured my impression ; 

 but our chief object being to seek a channel through the high 

 mountains, I stood toward Stewart Bay, the most southern part 

 examined by the boats. Finding I could not anchor there with- 

 out entering the bight and risking delay, which I was unwilling 

 to do, as I wished to reach Whale-boat Bay as soon as pos- 

 sible, we proceeded and anchored in the evening in Shingle 

 Roads, ready for moving the next morning. Having, last year, 

 passed along the whole line of coast, from Cape Earnest to this 

 place, there seemed to me no necessity for a closer examination, 

 for I knew there was no opening within that distance, and 

 I could very little improve what was then laid down on the 



