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

APPENDIX. 211 The village of Tongoy consists of half a dozen small houses, built on a high point at the south side of the peninsula. The coast on the west side of Huanaquero Hill is broken and rocky, affording no shelter for any thing but a boat ; to the north- ward there is a deep bay, well sheltered from southerly and westerly winds, but open to the northward : between this and Port Herradura there is no place fit for a vessel. Herradura and Coquimbo are well known. Teatinos is a bold rugged point, the land behind it rising in ridges, which gradu- ally become higher as they recede from the coast to Copper Hill, which is 6,400 feet high. The point which makes as the north extremity of the bay, in coming from the northward, is a low rocky point, called Poroto ; about four miles to the northward of Point Poroto, is the port of Arrayan, or Juan Soldado ; but it does not deserve the name : it is merely a small bight behind a rocky point, scarcely affordmg shelter for a boat from southerly winds, and en- tirely open to northerly. A little to the northward of Copper Hill is another hiU, on the same range and about the same height : the north side of the hill is steep, and at the foot of it is the small Bay of OsoRNO, which is about half a mile long, but not deep enough to afford any shelter for the smallest vessel. About half a mile to the northward of the bay there is a hamlet, consisting of a few small houses, called Yerba Buena. The Pajaros Islands are two low rocky islands, lying about twelve miles from the coast ; the northern is much smaller than the southern, and, as far as could be seen from the shore, there is no danger round or between them. A little to the northward of Yerba Buena there is a small island, called Trigo, separated from the shore by a channel about a cable's length broad ; but it is only fit for boats ; the island, oxcept when very close, appears to be only a projecting point ; there is a large white rock on the west point of it. About three miles to the northward of Trigo Island, is the Port of ToRTORALiLLO, which is formed by a small bay facing the north, with three small islands off the west point. In coming from the southward, the best entrance for small vessels is between the south- ernmost island and the point, where there is a channel about a cable's length wide, with from eight to twelve fathoms water. Tlie dry rock off the point on the main land, should not be approached nearer than half a cable, as a sunken rock lies nearly that distance from it. There