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

183G. SETTLEMKNT — r.OCAL ATTRACTION. 6S5 A few straggling houses, ill-placed in an exposed, cheerless situation, were seen by us as we entered the harbour ; and had inclination been our guide, instead of duty, I certainly should have felt much disposed to ' put the helm up,' and make all sail away from such an uninviting place. Next day, however, we found that appearances were worse than the reality ; for behind a hill, which separates the harbour from the sound, a thick wood was discovered, where there were many trees of considerable size ; and in the midst of this wood I found Sir Richard Spencer's house, much resembling a small but comfortable farm-house in England. This sort of isolated residence has a charm for some minds ; but the loss of society, the numerous privations, and the vastly retrograde step necessarily taken in civilized existence by emigrating to per- fectly new countries, are I think stronger objections to the plan than usually occur to persons who have not seen its con- sequences in actual operation. At this time there were about thirty houses, or cottages, in the neighbourhood of the sound and harbour ; some had small gardens ; but, generally speaking, there was no ap- pearance of agi-iculture, excepting immediately around Sir Richard's house, where a few fields had been cleared and cultivated in the midst of the wood. There is an extraordinary degree of local magnetic attrac- tion about this place. We could not ascertain the amount of variation with any degree of accuracy until our compasses were placed upon a sandy beach of considerable extent, near the sea. Wherever there was stone (a kind of granite) near the instruments, they were so much affected as to vary many degrees from the truth, and quite irregularly : those on board were not influenced, at least not more than a degree. We were also per- plexed by the irregular and peculiar tides ; but as they are mentioned elsewhere, I will refrain from farther remark on them here. We had a good opportunity of seeing several of the abo- rigines ; for not only were there unusual numbers of neigh- bouring natives then about the settlement, but a strange tribe, VOL. II. 2 s