564 



FORMER CHARTS AND PLANS. 



was coasted, as well as the north-eastern side of Tierra del 

 Fuego, by Malaspina ; and the charts of his voyage not only vie 

 with any contemporaneous production for accuracy and detail, but 

 are even now quite sufficient for the general purposes of naviga- 

 tion. 



The Strait of Magalhaens has been explored by several navi- 

 gators ; but, among the numerous plans of it extant, those of 

 Sir John Narborough and Cordova are the most correct. The 

 first is particularly noticed in the late Admiral Burney's very 

 useful work, and the result of the last has been published in 

 the Spanish language, and is ent'tled Ultimo Viage al Estrecho 

 de Magallanes." A second voyage was also made by Cordova to 

 the Strait, the proceedings of which form an appendix to the 

 above work. It is furnished with a good general chart of the 

 coast, another of the Strait, and many plans of the anchorages 

 within it. Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Bougainville, had already 

 made considerable additions to Narborough's plan, from which a 

 chart had been compiled that answered all the purposes of general 

 geographical information, and might even have been sufficient for 

 navigation : for the latter purpose, however, Cordova's chart was 

 much superior ; but, being published in Spain only, and its 

 existence little known in England, 1 found great difficulty in pro- 

 curing a copy before I sailed, for my own use. 



The southern coast of Tierra del Fuego, between Cape Good 

 Success, the southern limit of Strait le Maire, and Cape Pillar 

 at the western end of the Strait of Magalhaens, was very little 

 known. Cook's voyage affords several useful notices of the coast 

 between Cape Deseado and Christmas Sound, and the Dutch fleet 

 under Hermite partially explored the neighbourhood of Cape Horn : 

 a confused chart of this coast, however, was the best that could 

 be put together ; and although Mr. Weddell has more recently 

 published an account of the harbours and anchorages near Cape 

 Horn and New Year ^ound, yet little available benefit was derived 

 from it, because these different navigators having confined their 

 examinations to small portions of the coast, it was difficult to 

 connect their respective plans, even on so small a scale as that of 

 the general chart. 



The western coast of South America, which is very intricate, 

 extending from Cape Victory (the north-west entrance of the 



