to the Strait of Magellan, 4 5 



to be described; nor was their joy less, on accomplishing their 

 dreary task; so much so, that it was some time before they 

 couid be prevailed on to take their necessary refreshment. 



From Cape Cut-down to Cape Pillar, the south shore is so 

 clean, that no island, rock, or shoal, extends half a mile from 

 the land ; it may therefore be run down without fear. The 

 north side, on the contrary, which Narborough very justly 

 termed the desolation of the south, seems to be only the frag- 

 ments of a ruined world torn to pieces by violent earthquakes ; 

 for, out before it lie a multitude of islands and rocks, extending 

 far from the shore ; so that no vessel ought, on any account, to 

 approach that side of the strait. It is at the same time to be re- 

 membered, that no one ought to run very close to the south 

 shore, unless the wind be fair and steady; for the heavy sea 

 from the Pacific from the NW. might, in such a case, be very 

 dangerous. 



The famous Cape Pillar, remarkable for its position on the 

 south side of the west entrance into the Strait of Magellan, and 

 for its elevation over the water, is still more so, for two peaks 

 which rise on its summit, both inclining a little to the north- 

 west. That on the east, which is the highest, is connected 

 with a hill from which the cape itself projects ; the peak on the 

 west rises up like a great tower from a base on the edge of the 

 water, on the west of the cape: from the general resemblance 

 of that mass of rock to a rude pillar, when seen from the west, 

 the cape probably received its name. The union of the strait 

 with the great Southern Ocean, on the west of America, seems 

 to be bounded by rocks of the same nature ; for the quality and 

 distribution of the strata appeared, as far as we could compare 

 them, to be perfectly similar ; and their separation has evi- 

 dently been, originally, the effect of some violent convulsion ; 

 although it be also evident, that the sea has made, and is still 

 making, great inroads on both sides of the strait: for the 

 shores consist of high precipitous cliffs, before which lie, at 

 different distances from the land, multitudes of fragments, and 

 even rocky islands, of precisely the same appearance with the 

 present shores. That portion of Cape Pillar which is washed 

 by the waters of the strait, appears like the rounded summit of 

 a low hill ; but the opposite portion exposed to the ocean, is 

 excavated in many places by the action of the waves in the solid 

 rock. At the cape, the region called Tierra del Fuego bends 

 round to the SSW. at least as far as we could observe from the 

 boats. Half a mile in that direction from the cape, and close 

 under the land, are two small islands, which we named the 

 Spanish Long-boats; but we could not discover the cluster of 

 rocky islands called, from their number, the Twelve Apostles^ 



G 2 



