Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1833. PONSOXBY SOUND. 223 Bay, and on the 11th anchored in Scotchwell Bay. A rough night was passed under sail between Wollaston and Navarin Islands, in which we pretty well proved the clearness of that passage, as it blew fresh and we made a great many boards. Next day I set out to examine the western part of Ponsonby Sound and revisit Woollya. In my absence one party was to go westward, overland, to look at the outer coast between False Cape and Cape Weddell, and another was to examine and make a plan of the bay or harbour in which the Beagle lay. In 1830, Mr. Stokes had laid down its shores with accuracy on a small scale, but there was not then time to take many soundings ; and as I conceived that Orange Bay and this harbour were likely to be useful ports, it was worth making a particular plan of each. 12th. With one boat I crossed Tekeenica Sound, and ex- plored the western part of Ponsonby Sound. Natives were seen here and there, but we had little intercourse with them. Some curious effects of volcanic action were obsevred, besides masses of conglomerate, such as I had not noticed in any other part of Tierra del Fuego. On one islet I was placed in an awkward predicament for half an hour ; it was a very steep, precipitous hill, which 1 had ascended by climbing or creeping through ravines and among trees ; but, wishing to return to the boat's crew, after taking a few angles and bearings from its sum- mit, I could find no place by which it appeared possible to descend. The ravine up which I crawled was hidden by wood, and night was at hand. I went to and fro, like a dog on a wall, unable to descend, till one of the boat's crew who was wandering about heard me call, and, ascending at the only accessible place, showed me where to plunge into the wood with a prospect of emerging again in a proper direction. This night we had dry beautiful weather, the leaves and sticks on the ground crackhng under our feet as we walked, while at the ship, only sixty miles distant, rain poured ^down inces- santly. The night of the 13th was passed on Button Island. This