Lieutenants Graves and Wickham, and Mr. Tarn, went upon this service, the latter being most anxious to procure some change of diet for the sick under his care, for some of whom he was much alarmed. The appearance and severity of this
disease, although every precaution had been used, and subsequent attention paid to their diet, are not easy to account for: fresh provisions, bread baked on board, pickles, cranberries, large quantities of wild celery, preserved meats and soups, had been abundantly supplied; the decks were kept well-aired, dry, and warm, but all to no purpose; these precautions, perhaps, checked the disease for a time; but did not prevent it, as had been fully expected.
The Adelaide sailed on the 16th of July, with every prospect of fine weather. The same evening, an American sealing schooner anchored near us, on her way to Staten Land. She had entered the Straits by Cutler and Smyth Channels, and in forty-eight hours arrived at Port Famine. After obtaining some trifling assistance from our forge, she sailed.
On the 25th, three new cases of scurvy appeared, one being the assistant-surgeon, which increased our sick-list to fourteen. Feeling the necessity of doing something, I ordered the hands to be turned up, 'Prepare ship for sea!' No sooner had the words escaped the boatswain's lips, than all was life, energy, and delight. The preliminary preparations were made, and every one looked forward with pleasure to the change, except myself. I had hoped to pass the twelve months at Port Famine, with the intention of completing a meteorological journal, for which this place afforded peculiar advantages. My plan was, on the Beagle's return, to despatch her and the schooner along the West Coast, and join them in the Adventure at Chilóe.
As our departure was now supposed to depend on the Beagle's arrival, every eye was on the stretch to watch for her, and every morning some one of our party ascended the heights, to look out. On the 27th she was seen, beating up from the southward; but as the wind was contrary, she did not anchor in the bay until the evening. Her return was greeted with three most hearty cheers; but on passing under our stern, Lieutenant Skyring informed me that Captain Stokes was confined to his cabin by illness, and could not wait on me. I therefore went to the Beagle, and found Captain Stokes looking very ill, and in low spirits. He expressed himself much distressed by the
hardships the officers and crew under him had suffered; and I was alarmed at the desponding tone of his conversation. He told me that the Beagle had been up the western coast as high as Cape Tres Montes, in latitude 47°, had surveyed the Gulf of Peñas and other portions of the coast, particularly Port Henry, at Cape Three Points, the entrance of the Gulf of Trinidad, and Port Santa Barbara, at the north end of Campana Island.
During the survey of the Gulf of Peñas they had experienced very severe weather, both stormy and wet, during which the Beagle's crew were incessantly employed, and had consequently suffered greatly. Captain Stokes seemed not to have spared himself. He appeared much gratified by my visiting him, and before we parted he was for a time restored to his usual energy, detailing the circumstances of the voyage, and conversing upon the plan of our future operations with considerable animation.
The return of the Beagle cheered our ship's company, and on the 30th the Adelaide came back, with a large quantity of guanaco meat, which had been procured from the Patagonian Indians at Peckett's Harbour.
When the Adelaide anchored there, about thirty natives appeared on the shore. Mr. Tarn landed, and communicated our wants, saying that he would give tobacco and knives for as much guanaco meat as they could procure; with them was the Fuegian, who seemed to be a leading man, and to have become one of the most active of the party. He was the principal spokesman, and upon commencing the hunt he pointed to the snow upon the ground, and called it 'bueno' (good), because it would show the traces of the animals, and the direction they had taken. Mr. Wickham thus described to me the manner in which they hunted: Two men ascended a hill, placed themselves one at each end of its summit, and stood motionless for some time, on the look-out. As soon as guanacoes were seen, their position and movements were communicated, by signs, to the men in the valley, who were thus enabled to approach their game unawares. The guanacoes are taken with the bolas, which entangle their legs and throw them down. As soon as they are killed,
they are skinned and cut up. The first night seven hundred pounds of meat were brought, and two thousand and forty-six pounds were obtained in a few days.