Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

Junel828. scurvy — Adelaide — cape froward. 145 sick, as well as the unfavourable symptoms of their disease. The Beagle's term of absence was, however, drawing to a close, and I caused a rumour to be spread, that upon her appearance we should quit Port Famine. To give a semblance of reality to this report, the topmasts were ordered to be fidded, and the ship otherwise prepared for sea, which had a manifest effect upon the scorbutic, of whom several were in a bad stage of that horrid disease, and many others were just attacked. We found ourselves now, too, thrown on our own resources for fresh food : scarcely a fish was taken with the hook, and the seine, although frequently shot, never caught anything. Of birds, only a few hawks and small finches were procured, which were all reserved for the sick, the greater number of whom lived on shore, at the tents, where they might walk about, and amuse themselves as they pleased. The Adelaide returned from Bougainville Hai'bour on the 18th of June, having succeeded in the object for which she was sent. The extremity of Cape Froward, a bluff head, over which is a round- topped hill (precisely the French ' Morre') is what Sarmiento called the Morro de Santa Agueda. Any name given by this excellent old navigator is too classical and valuable to be omitted ; therefore, while the extremity itself may retain the modern appellation of Cape Froward, the moun- tain by which it is formed may still be allowed to keep his distinction. Behind it, the land rises to a higher ridge, the edge of which is remarkably serrated, and probably of a slaty character. The specimens procured from the Cape were clay-slate, much intermixed with iron pyrites, and crossed by small veins of white quartz. Of the anchorages examined by Mr. Graves, Bougainville Harbour, better known to sealers by the name of Jack's Cove, or Harbour, is the most sheltered. It is surrounded on all sides by high precipitous hills, thickly clothed with trees. The depth is moderate, and the water so beautifully clear, that the anchors, and even shells and stones, were distinctly seen upon the bottom. It was here that Bougainville procured wood for the use of the settlement VOL. I. L