28 



Cordovas Foi/age of Discovery 



entoed the great bay of S. Simon. Our course was in gene- 

 ral south, taking, as we passed, observations of bearings and 

 distances, and never omitting, when we found a place where 

 the boat could put in with safety, to ascend some hill or high 

 ground, in o^ier to acquire a more distinct notion of the differ- 

 ent islands and channels which compose the archipelago or 

 groupe called by the general name of Tierra del Fuego. Not- 

 withstanding that the excessive depth of water, and the bad 

 quality of the bottom, even close to these high precipitous 

 shorts, announced to us early, that it would be impossible to 

 meet with a passage among them practicable for any vessel that 

 did not make use of oars, we still continued all the evening in 

 this labyrinth of islands, almost inaccessible on all parts, and 

 of which it would have been equally difficult, as useless, to 

 make an accurate survey. When night drew on, we turned to 

 the westward, to find a proper place of shelter for our boat, since 

 both the weather and want of light made it impracticable to 

 continue our investigations, and where we might enjoy some 

 repose. A cascade of water not far from us, an abundance of 

 excellent shell-fish, a short stretch of beach, where we might 

 draw up the boat and pitch our tents, all within a spacious bay, 

 not destitute of wood, with the entrance defended by some 

 small islands : these circumstances soon determined us there to 

 fix our abode for the night. We accordingly landed, and put 

 every thing in order; but, at half- past eleven at night, the tide, 

 for which we had not made sufficient allowance in pitching our 

 tent, came to interrupt our repose ; so that we wdre obliged 

 immediately to remove a little higher up, to a place where were 

 the ruins of two huts, placed in that situation by the natives, 

 ivell acquainted with the course of the tide. 



Next morning we continued our researches in the boat; and, 

 as the wind was northerly, we directed our course to the south- 

 ward. The channels through which we passed, were, in gene- 

 ral, narrow, and of vast depth, excepting one, in which there 

 was no more than one and a half fathoms, and was besides wide 

 and open. To this cluster of islands we gave the name of our 

 commander, calhng it the Labyrinth of Cordova. 



From this station sundry channels presented themselves r in 

 one of which, that appeared the most free from embarrassment, 

 we proceeded for some hours, until we discovered another pas- 

 sage, which terminated in the Southern Ocean ; and which, 

 combining all the informations we had been able to collect, 

 seemed to be that through which Marcant had sailed, giving it 

 the name of his own ship, Channel of S. Barbara, 



Having thus ascertained the communication outwardly, it 

 was next of importance to discover that inwardly with the 



