76 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



Within a few years, another passage has been successfully 

 tried by several vessels ; that which originally led to the Pa- 

 cific — the Straits of Magellan. From their entrance on the At- 

 lantic, to Cape Pillar, on the Pacific, is estimated to be from 

 three to four hundred miles. The breadth varies from eight to 

 twenty miles. The water is deep, the anchorage good, the 

 surface generally smooth, and both its coasts abound in safe and 

 convenient harbors, which may always be gained seasonably 

 by vessels passing through the straits. About a year since, an 

 American barque, drawing more than fifteen feet water, passed 

 through in four days ; the master informed us that he encoun- 

 tered no difficulty, of any kind whatever. Sealers, who fre- 

 quent that part of the world, are quite familiar with the navi- 

 gation, and do not hesitate between it and going round the 

 Cape. One of H. B. M. vessels of war, properly equipped for 

 the purpose, is now engaged in surveying the Straits of Ma- 

 gellan, and it is to be hoped, that the report of her commander 

 will do much to dispel the objections to taking that route to 

 the Pacific. 



This subject is one which merits the attention of navigators ; 

 and if each one would forward an extract from his log-book, to 

 some of the public journals, with such observations as might 

 suggest themselves, it might be soon settled.* The Sailor's 

 Magazine would, no doubt, publish any thing that might have 

 a tendency to clear this matter from the uncertainty at present 

 connected with it. It is to be hoped, that navy officers, cruising 

 in the Pacific, v/ill not be backward in collecting and forward- 

 ing information upon the subject, to the editor of the Mili- 

 tary and Naval Magazine," which ought to be cherished by 

 the talent and patronage of both branches of the service. 



From latitude 22° south, ir^ the Atlantic, our ship was fol- 

 lowed to Valparaiso by numbers of petrels, or Cape pigeons. 

 They were of two kinds, the spotted and the silvery. The first 

 is rather larger than the domestic pigeon, but from the thick- 

 ness of its plumage, weighs much less. The feet are three toed 



* Silliman's Journal for April, 1834, contains an interesting article on this 

 subject, by M, F. Maury, of the United States Navy. 



