30 Cordova's Voyage of Bhcovery 



nel of San Geronimo; determined to examine it completely, td 

 discover whether, as had been supjDosed, it communicated with 

 the opening called Buckley's Channel, farther to the westward. 

 That channel had never been examined by any navigator ; and, 

 to ascertain its nature and communications, seemed to be an 

 object of importance in the geography of South America. 

 The tide was now setting westward; we therefore made con- 

 siderable way with our oars: but a heavy and incessant rain 

 greatly incommoded us. On entering the channel of San Gero- 

 nimo, we found it to extend JMW. by N. having on the north 

 coast, five miles within the entrance, a spacious bay running 

 two miles into the land, and as much broad at the mouth. This 

 is called in the English charts the Bay of Isles, from some small 

 islands at the entrance. It is not however of importance ; for 

 no small vessel will probably ever stretch so far into the channel, 

 which is there only one mile in breadth, — the current setting to 

 the SE. with a rapidity of four miles an hour ; and its contact 

 with the counter current to the NW. alon^ the north shore 

 produces some very troublesome eddies. Along that shore are 

 several other small bays, in all of which are streams of fresh 

 M^ater, poured down from the surrounding mountains, covered 

 with snow in the midst of summer. In one of those bays we 

 landed, to refresh the men, exhausted with many hours' hard la- 

 bour at the oar. ' There also we measured a base for deter- 

 mining the chart of the channel. The south shore consists of 

 lofty mountains, descending perpendicularly over the water, 

 and forming a straight line of inaccessible precipice five leagues 

 in extent from the entrance. The north shore, along which we 

 ran, is low, near the water, green, and wooded ; and the water 

 near it is shallow, when compared with that on the south shore, 

 where no bottom was found with a line of 40 fathoms. It was 

 low water Vv hen we put into the above cove; but the current 

 still set rapidly to the SE. in the mid-channel : high-water we 

 found to happen at \2\. Continuing our course up the chan- 

 nel, we found it enlarge considerably, forming a spacious bay, 

 opening into which were two channels pointing the one NNE 

 and the other W. In this spot the irregularity of the currents 

 was great and sudden. At the entrance of this open bay are 

 three islands, called in the English charts the Two Brothers, 

 because one of the three is only a bare rock, while the other 

 two are green and wooded. Proceeding still farther, we dis- 

 covered that the channel on the W. led into another bay, six 

 miles deep and five miles broad. From the north point of this 

 last bay the land trends ends northward to the mouth of the chan- 

 nel, which extended to the NNE., in which bay are some small 

 islands. The east coast of this channel is low, and verdant on 



