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. 219 bay, with a small cove close to the point where we anchored in five fathoms, but half a cable off shore on either side : it is not fit for a vessel. The bay is partly sheltered from northerly winds, but a northerly swell rolls in, and it does not appear to be a proper place for a vessel to enter. From an old fisherman, who was living in a hut, we learned that the name of the place is Barranquilla de Copiapo, and to our surprise saw a cargo of copper prepared for shipping. He also told us that another cargo had been shipped from the same place about a year before ; though the cove is too small for any vessel to anchor in with safety, and outside it the water deepens very suddenly. Tliere is no anchorage in the cove at the head of the bay, and the landing there is very bad ; in the small cove the landing is good. There is no fresh water nearer than the river of Copiapo, which is about fifteen miles off. The deep bight to the southward of this, in which are the three bays before mentioned, is called Salado Bay ; the south point of it, with the island off it, is Point Cuernos. No vessel had ever been in either of these bays, but the middle one is much superior to Bar- ranquilla, and might be a much better place to embark the ores. From BarranquiUa to Point Dallas the coast is rocky and broken, without any place sufficient to shelter the smallest vessel. Point Dallas is a black rocky point, with a hummock on its extreme, which, coming from the southward, appears to be an island ; the land rises to a range of low sandy hiUs, with rocky summits. The Caxa Grande is a small sharp-topped rock, which is the only one of the reef that shows above water ; the patch near the point was a-wash when we passed. The channel between it and Point Dallas appears to be wider than it is given in former charts, but the reef off the point projects much farther. The sea was high, and there was occasionally a breaker above a quarter of a mUe from the point ; at about that distance from the breakers cm the reef, the least water we had was eleven fathoms ; when the swell is not high, the breaker off the point would not show ; it appeared to be detached from the reef which joins the point. Copiapo is a very bad port ; the swell roUs in heavily, and the landing is worse than in any port to the southward ; it may easily be known by the Morro, to the northward, which is a very X 2