424 LEAVE MARCH HARBOUR ILDEFONSOS. March 18S0. 



ing early — but as the sun rose higher the weather improved, 

 and we tried to weigh, — yet were provokingly delayed, for the 

 chain was so fast round a rock, that for nearly an hour we could 

 not move it. At last we succeeded, without injury to any- 

 thing — left the harbour, and stood away for the Ildefonsos 

 with a strong W.S.W. wind and a confused high swell. 



" March Harbour (so called from our having passed the 

 month of March in it) is not so good as I at first thought. 

 The bottom is certainly excellent in some parts ; it is well shel- 

 tered, and easy of access, but there are many rocky places 

 which would injure a hemp cable. Besides, there is a danger- 

 ous rock under water in the wide part of the harbour, hidden 

 by a large patch of kelp. 



" We passed along the S.W. side of the Ildefonsos, at the 

 distance of half a mile. They appeared like the higher parts 

 of a mountain almost under water, lying N.W. and S.E., 

 nearly broken through by the sea in several places, so as to 

 form several islets, of which the highest and largest is about 

 two hundred feet above the sea, and one-third of a mile in 

 length ; another is about one-quarter of a mile long ; the rest 

 are mere rocks. The two larger are covered with tussac,* 

 among which we saw numerous seal which had scrambled 

 up to the very summits. Having seen enough of these islets, 

 we hauled our wind, and shortened sail, to prepare for the 

 night : for it blew a fresh gale, with every appearance of 

 its increasing and drawing to the southward. I wished to 

 make the Diego Ramirez Islands the next morning, and 

 thence run to the north-eastward ; and, had the wind been 

 moderate, could have done so without difficulty ; but after car- 

 rying a press of sail during the night, and making southing, 

 with as little easting as possible, I found myself, at daylight 

 next morning, five miles to leeward of the above-mentioned 

 islands, with the wind strong from the N.W., and too much 

 sea to allow me to hope to see more of them without remaining 

 under sail until the weather moderated. This would not have 



* A rushy kind of coarse grass. 



