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

CHAPTER XIX. Sarmiento Channel — Ancon sin Salida — Cape Earnest — Canal of the Mountains — Termination of the Andes — Kirke Narrow — Easter Bay — Disappointment Bay — Obstruction Sound — Last Hope Inlet — Swans — Coots — Deer — River — Lagoon — Singular eddies — Passage of the Narrow — Arrival at Port Famine — Zoological remarks. " (April 1st). This morning the weather was very unset- tled, squally, and thick : but as no delay could be admitted, when there was a possibility of moving, we left at eight o''clock, and followed the course of Sarmiento Channel. I have no doubt that a passage exists eastward of Point San Gaspar, leading to CoUingwood Strait, and forming an island between that point and Cape San Bartolome : but with the N.W. wmd and bad weather we then had, that bight was too leewardly for us to venture into. " The knowledge of an opening there could be of no great importance, yet had I been able to find an anchorage near Cape San Bartolome I would gladly have profited by it, in order to assure myself of the existence of a passage. In hauling round, the appearance of the land favoured my impression but our chief object being to seek a channel through the high mountains, I stood toward Stewart Bay, the most southern part examined by the boats. Finding I could not anchor there with- out entering the bight and risking delay, which I was unwilling to do, as I wished to reach Whale-boat Bay as soon as pos- sible, we proceeded and anchored in the evening in Shingle Roads, ready for moving the next morning. Having, last year, passed along the whole line of coast, from Cape Earnest to this place, there seemed to me no necessity for a closer examination, for I knew there was no opening within that distance, and I could very little improve what was then laid down on the