338 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
causing us to run so far to the southward of our 
course, the change of temperature was much felt ; 
for having been so long accustomed to the warm, 
smiling tropical shies, the dull and overcast weather, 
the low T temperature, and frequent rains seemed to be 
doubly cold and gloomy. 
Nov. 13th . — A thousand miles north had to be run 
when land was reported — the solitary island of Juan 
Fernandez. The morning was fine, and I think I 
may say I have never seen a more remarkable and 
picturesque view than the approach to the anchorage 
presented. Great mountains appear, torn and broken 
into every conceivable fantastic shape, with deep 
ravines, through which the torrents at times sweep 
down from the precipitous cliffs, which rise one 
above the other, finally culminating in a great 
mass 3000 feet high, known as the Yunque, or 
Anvil (from its resemblance to the iron block used 
by blacksmiths). This is wooded nearly from the 
summit to the base, where are indications of its 
having been at one time cleared for cultivation (at 
the time probably when the Spaniards made the 
attempt to colonise it), for the stone walls which 
served to divide the inclosures still remain. There are 
also the remains of a fort, named San Juan Bautista, 
and a few tumble-down shanties, in which some forty 
or fifty people are existing, seeking a precarious 
living by supplying vessels that occasionally call here 
with fresh provisions, &c. It is certainly a strange 
