WRECK OF THE CHALLENGER. 118 



At 6 30' p.M, Lieutenant Collins arrived, with a 

 guide, on the opposite side of the river, whence 

 we sent the balsa, and brought him over. The 

 only information he brought was, a report that 

 a man-of-war was expected at Valparaiso, where 

 she would hear of our disaster, and, doubtless, 

 take steps for our immediate succour. Several 

 rats, of the opossum species, were seen about 

 the camp, and a young one taken. 



June 17. — Fine weather ; the wind light and 

 variable. Employed the crew in various ways ; 

 drying clothes, cutting wood, and ditching to 

 drain the ground in front of the camp. A strong 

 shooting party started over the hills above us, to 

 the southward. At 8 p.m., the officer of the 

 watch having reported that five guns were heard 

 to seaward, and being ever anxious to attract 

 the attention of any one passing near, to show our 

 position, we fired five shot from our cannonades, 

 accompanying each with a rocket, and lighted a 

 large fire on the hill, where we also burnt a blue 

 light : nothing, however, was seen, though many 

 of us ran to the hill, in all haste, to discover 

 the supposed sail ; we therefore concluded that 

 the noise of the sea on the rocks, below the hill, 

 might have given rise to the mistake. 



I 



