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CHAPTER L 
We left England on the 16 th of October 1830 ; but I 
shall not tire the reader with the description of anything 
which I saw before our arrival in the South Pacific 
Ocean, because the same has been done so often by other 
travellers that I have thought it quite necessary to omit 
any description in this sketch, although I saw multi- 
tudes of objects which divided my attention ; and as I 
had never attempted the ways of the pathless deep 
before, they found me in abundant food for reflection 
and admiration. 
We saw no land, after we had left our own white cliffs, 
until off Cape Horn, of which it was our good fortune 
to have a full and ample view. As a place renowned 
among travellers, Cape Horn has always stood foremost 
in their tales of wonder ; from Lord Anson’s to our own 
times, it has remained the scene of many a mariner’s 
tale. Whether we regard the dangerous Straits of 
Magellan-— the “Terra del Fuego,” or land of fire of 
the Spaniards— the giant Patagonians themselves, who 
reside in its vicinity — the beautiful and interesting con- 
stellations of the Magellan clouds, or that of “ la Crus,” 
which are to be seen in its locality— or Wager Island, 
which is not far distant; the scene of the wreck of the 
“ Wager” man-of-war, in which our poet’s “ grand-dad ” 
