PORTER S J O U RIVAL. 



US. We were here surrounded by whales m great num- 

 bers, which gave us strong hopes of soon meeting some of 

 the vessels engaged in catching them, as the whales gene- 

 rally go in schools along the coast, and the whalers keep 

 in pursuit of them, following their track north and south* 

 W e also saw many seals, and birds in greater numbers than 

 at any time during our passage, except while in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Mocha. 



From the 8th until the 1 1 th, the weather continued fog- 

 gy, and the winds light and baffling from the northward, 

 which prevented us from making any head-way, and du- 

 ring their continuation deprived us of all hope of discover- 

 ing vessels. Nothing . ?uld now exceed our impatience. 

 W e had come thus far without having seen a vessel of any 

 description ; but as we had not expected to meet any, we 

 had not been disappointed. Now we had arrived at the 

 theatre of our intended operations, and impatiently waited 

 for the curtain to rise, for we calculated on seeing a vessel 

 of some kind, so soon as the fog should clear off. Even a 

 Spaniard would have been a most welcome sight to us, as, 

 by speaking him, we hoped to be enabled to get some in- 

 formation of the enemy that would be of service to us ; for 

 we were now groping in the dark, and entirely ignorant of 

 what British ships were on the coast ; and until we could 

 obtain some intelligence, no plan could be adopted that 

 would afford us hopes of success. 



On the latter part of the 1 2th, light airs sprang up from 

 the southwest, the weather began to clear off slowly, and 

 every eye was engaged in searching for a sail, as the fog 

 moved to leeward. Nothing, however, was to be seen but 

 a wide expanse of ocean, bounded on the east by the drea- 

 ry, barren, and iron-bound coast of Chili, at the back of 

 which the eternally snow-capt mountains of the Andes 

 reared their lofty heads, and altogether presented to us a 

 scene of gloomy solitude, far exceeding any thing I ever 

 before experienced. The winds now freshening up, ena" 

 bled us to make sail to the northward ; and as the weather 

 was clear, I determined to keep close in with the coast, 

 that no vessel might be enabled to pass between us and the 

 shore unobserved. In the course of our run this and the 

 liext day we could discover no vessels of any description, 

 or the least trace of the existence of a human being on ih^ 



