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

Feb. 1830. eyre sound — seal — ice-bergs. 337 prevented our moving ; but on the 27th we shifted our ancho- rage to Fury Cove, in Wide Channel. " Mr. Kirke, on the 28th, examined an opening to the north- ward, called Sir George Eyre Sound, which terminates in a wide fresh- water river, running through low land from a large glacier. The low grounds extend two or three miles from it, and then the land becomes high. Behind the glacier there is a ridge of high mountains, covered with snow, which we had seen twice before ; first, from near White Kelp Cove, and again from Halt Bay. In the sound, we saw three whales, and being the first we had observed, since leaving the Gulf of Penas, they inclined us to think we were near the Gulf of Trinidad. A great number of fur seal, besides two of their rookeries, or breeding-places, were also seen. Several icebergs were floating out of the sound, some of which were dark- coloured ; and upon one I found a quantity of rock that had come down with it from the mountains. There was serpentine and granite, specimens of which were collected, and given to Captain King. One of the bergs, which was large, was aground. It was nearly seven fathoms above the water, and bottom could not be found by sounding round it with twenty-one fathoms of line. " Fury Cove is diminutive ; there is not more than sufficient space for two small vessels; but the ground is good, and in every other respect it is a secure haven. We sailed on the 3d of March with the expectation of soon recognizing some known points in the Gulf of Trinidad ; but as the wind failed, we were obliged to anchor for the night in Sandy Bay, in eight fathoms. " As we proceeded to the southwai-d, the appearance of the country gradually changed : the mountains seemed more bar- ren, the trees and shrubs more stunted, the land rose more suddenly, and the shores of the channel became bolder, and presented an uniform rocky line of coast. " (4th.) We again steered southward, and at noon an opening appearing on the east side, which ran several miles inland, I sought an adjacent anchorage, in order that it might be explored. Our boats were examining the shore all day, and VOL. I. 1