Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

344 TRES MONTES. Dec. 1834. terested by finding, on a wild part of the coast, a bed made of grass beneath a ledge of rock. Close by it there had been a fire, and the man had used an axe. The fire, bed, and situation, showed the dexterity of an Indian ; but he could scarcely have been an Indian ; for the race is in this part extinct, owing to the Catholic desire of making at one blow Christians and Slaves. I had at the time some misgivings (though they afterwards were proved to have been ground- less) that the solitary man, who had made his bed on this wild spot, must have been some poor shipwrecked sailor, who, in trying to travel up the coast, had here lain himself down for his dreary night. December 28th. — The weather continued very bad, but it at last permitted us to proceed with the survey. The time hung heavy on our hands, as it always did when we were delayed from day to day by successive gales of wind. In the evening another harbour was discovered, where we anchored. Directly afterwards a man was seen waving his shirt ; and a boat was sent which brought back two seamen. A party of six had run away from an American whaUng vessel, and had landed a little to the southward in a boat, which was shortly afterwards knocked to pieces by the surf. They had now been wandering up and down the coast for fifteen months, without knowing which way to go, or where they were. What a singular piece of good fortune it was that this har- bour was now discovered! Had it not been for this one chance, they might have wandered till they had grown old men, and at last have perished on this wild coast. Their sufferings had been very great, and one of their party had lost his life, by faUing from the clifi"s. They were sometimes obUged to separate in search of food, and this explained the bed of the solitary man. Considering what they had under- gone, I think they had kept a very good reckoning of time though they had lost four days, by making this the 24th instead of the 28th. December 30th. — We anchored in a snug little cove at the foot of some high hills, near the northern extremity of