Considering the vast extent of the sea-coast of the southern extremity of America, it is not a little surprising that it should have been so frequently passed by, during the last century, without having been more explored. Within the last twenty years, however, it has been very much resorted to by English and American vessels in the seal trade, and to the observing portion of their enterprising crews many of its intricacies are well known; but as the knowledge they have derived from their experience has only in one instance, that of Mr. Weddell's voyage, been published to the world, our charts cannot be said to have been much improved for the last fifty years.
The eastern coast of Patagonia, by which name the country between the River Plata and the Strait of Magalhaens[[215]] is known,
was coasted, as well as the north-eastern side of Tierra del Fuego, by Malaspina; and the charts of his voyage not only vie with any contemporaneous production for accuracy and detail, but are even now quite sufficient for the general purposes of navigation.
The Strait of Magalhaens has been explored by several navigators; but, among the numerous plans of it extant, those of Sir John Narborough and Cordova are the most correct. The first is particularly noticed in the late Admiral Burney's very useful work, and the result of the last has been published in the Spanish language, and is entitled "Ultimo Viage al Estrecho de Magallanes." A second voyage was also made by Cordova to the Strait, the proceedings of which form an appendix to the above work. It is furnished with a good general chart of the coast, another of the Strait, and many plans of the anchorages within it. Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Bougainville, had already made considerable additions to Narborough's plan, from which a chart had been compiled that answered all the purposes of general geographical information, and might even have been sufficient for navigation: for the latter purpose, however, Cordova's chart was much superior; but, being published in Spain only, and its existence little known in England, I found great difficulty in procuring a copy before I sailed, for my own use.
The southern coast of Tierra del Fuego, between Cape Good Success, the southern limit of Strait le Maire, and Cape Pillar at the western end of the Strait of Magalhaens, was very little known. Cook's voyage affords several useful notices of the coast between Cape Deseado and Christmas Sound, and the Dutch fleet under Hermite partially explored the neighbourhood of Cape Horn: a confused chart of this coast, however, was the best that could be put together; and although Mr. Weddell has more recently published an account of the harbours and anchorages near Cape Horn and New Year Sound, yet little available benefit was derived from it, because these different navigators having confined their examinations to small portions of the coast, it was difficult to connect their respective plans, even on so small a scale as that of the general chart.
The western coast of South America, which is very intricate, extending from Cape Victory (the north-west entrance of the
Strait of Magalhaens) to the island of Chilóe, may be said to have been wholly unknown; for since the time of Sarmiento de Gamboa nothing in the least descriptive of it had been published, with the exception of the brief notices of two missionary voyages in piraguas, from Chilóe to the Guiateca and Guaianeco islands.
Every person conversant with South American geography, must be acquainted with the voyage of Sarmiento. From the determined perseverance shown by that excellent and skilful navigator, through difficulties of no ordinary nature, we are possessed of the details of a voyage down the western coast, and through the Strait of Magalhaens, that has never been surpassed. His journal has furnished us with the description of a coast more difficult and dangerous to explore than any which could readily be selected—for it was at that time perfectly unknown, and is exposed to a climate of perpetual storms and rain: yet the account is written with such minute care and correctness, that we have been enabled to detect upon our charts almost every place described in the Gulf of Trinidad, and the channels to the south of it, particularly their termination at his Ancon sin Salida.
It would be irrelevant to enter here into the history of Sarmiento's voyage, or indeed of any other connected with these coasts. Modern surveys are made so much more in detail than those of former years, that little use can be made of the charts and plans that have been hitherto formed; but the accounts of the voyages connected with them are replete with interesting and useful matter, and much amusement as well as information may be derived from their perusal, particularly Sir John Narborough's journal, and Byron's romantic and pathetic narrative of the loss of the Wager.
The Cordillera of the Andes, which is known to extend from the northern part of the continent almost to its southern extremity, decreases in elevation near the higher southern latitudes. In the neighbourhood of Quito, Chimborazo and Pinchincha rear their summits to the height of nearly twenty-two thousand feet above the level of the sea; near Santiago de Chile the highest land is supposed to be fourteen thousand feet; farther south, near Concepcion, it is lower; and near Chilóe there are few parts of the range exceeding seven thousand feet. Between Chilóe and the