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

224 APPENDIX. low, but a little In-shore there is a high range of hills, the outside of which is very steep : to the northward of this point there is a small rocky bay, which appears to answer better to the description of Las Animas than the other ; it did not appear a fit place for ves- sels, and the landing was bad. The north point of this bay is a steep rocky point, with a round brown hill rising directly from the water's edge ; the sides of the hiUs are crossed by dark veins, run- ning in different directions, which are very remarkable. To the northward of this point there is a deep bay, which, from the descrip- tion, must be Chaneral : the south side of it is rocky with small coves, but the landing appeared to be bad ; the east and north sliores of it were low and sandy, and a heavy surf was breaking on the beach. We could see no signs of any people, or piles of ore, along the coast ; and as it did not appear a good place for vessels, and our time was short, it was not thought worth a more particular examination. Tlie north point of the bay is low and rocky, with a high range a little in-shore. To the northward of this point the hills and coast are both composed of brown and red rocks, with a few bushes on the summits of some cf the hills : the sandy appear- ance the hills have to the southward ceases, and the prospect is, if possible, more barren. Nearly nine miles to the northward of the point of this bay is Sugar Loaf Island, which is about half a mile from the shore ; in coming from the southward, there is a high sugar loaf hill on the main, a little to the southward of the island, for which it may be mistaken, but the island is not so high and the summit is sharper. Between Sugar Loaf Island and Chaneral, the coast is rocky and affords no shelter : there is a small bay to the southward of the passage, between the island and the main, which would afford shelter from northerly winds, but with southerly it is exposed, and the landing is very bad. In the middle of the passage there are five fathoms in the shallowest part : the water in the northern end of it is smooth, and a vessel might anchor off the point of the island, sheltered from southerly winds, in six or seven fathoms ; but after eight fathoms it deepens suddenly to thirteen and twenty fathoms, about half a mile from the island. There is a small bay on the main, to the northward of the channel, where a vessel would be sheltered from southerly winds, but we did not examine it. About twenty miles to the northward of the Sugar Loaf Itland