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

SOi FISH — GOATS — DOGS. Feb. 1830. cultivate the soil, and raise potatoes, had been defeated by the destructive ravages of a worm. By sending a boat to the east point of the bay, to fish in forty fathoms water, a most delicious kind of cod-fish may be taken, in such numbers, that two men, in half an hour, could fill the boat. Craw-fish, of large size, are almost equally abundant they are taken with a hooked stick : one of our boats caught forty-five in a very short time. The inhabitants catch them, and cure their tails, by exposure to the sun, for exportation to Chile, where they are much esteemed, and fetch a high price. Wild-goats are very numerous among the inaccessible parts of the island, but are not easily obtained ; they are sometimes shot, or taken with a lazo. These animals, according to Woodes Rogers, and other writers, were originally left on the island by Juan Fernandez, who, for a short time, lived there. Accord- ing to the ' Noticias Secretas,' p. 50 to 56, they are supposed to have been landed by the Buccaneers, who frequented this island. Certain it is, that, without such refreshments, the Buc- caneers would not have been able to carry on their harassing war of plunder against the Spanish possessions on the American coast to such an extent ; nor should we, perhaps, have heard anything more about Commodore Anson, and the crews of the Centurion and Gloucester, who were, on their arrival at this island, in the last stage of scurvy. To prevent Juan Fernandez from being so tempting a resort to Buccaneers, the Viceroy of Pei'u caused a great many dogs to be landed, which hunted down and destroyed the goats in great numbers : this in some measure has prevented their subsequent increase. The dogs however drove the goats to places where they could not follow them, and were then obliged to destroy seals for food. Large troops of these dogs still range about the lower grounds; but the heights are in the undisturbed possession of wild-goats ; which may be seen in numbers brows- ing on elevated and almost inaccessible places, where they live in safety. The geological character of this island, according to Mr. Caldcleugh, who accompanied me in this trip, is of basaltic