Mas-afuera contains plenty of wood and fresh water, falling in cascades from the high ground of the interior; but these articles cannot be procured without difficulty, on account of the rocky nature of the shore causing the surf to beat violently. Several birds, and amongst these large hawks, are seen on the land, and hovering over the fish which abound on the shores, and may be easily caught. Sea wolves, seals, and other aquatic animals, are also very common.
Off the south-western extremity of Juan Fernandez is a small uninhabited isle, or rather rock, named Isla de Cabras, or Isle of Goats.
These islands are noted for having been the residence of two persons whose adventure gave rise to the novel of Robinson Crusoe. The one was a Mosquito Indian left there by the Buccaneers, and the other Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, also left there by his ship, and who lived four or five years on Juan Fernandez, subsisting upon the goats he caught, which were introduced into the islands by Fernandez, the discoverer, who settled and died in La de Tierra.
In proceeding to the north from these, the next isles of any consequence off the coasts of Peru, are those named St. Felix and St. Ambrose; but these are mere rocks of some extent and very high, on which innumerable seals and marine animals are found. They are not more than five miles in circumference, and are four leagues and a half distant from each other, between 26° 19' and 26° 13' south latitude, and between 79° 41' and 79° 26' west longitude.
On the coast of Peru, opposite the town of Pisco are the Isles of Lobos, or the Sea Wolves, where numbers of seals and other aquatic animals may be caught; they are also, however, mere rocks; north-north-west of these rocks is the small isle of Sangallan in 13° 45' south latitude, famous for seals and sea wolves, and north of this are the isles Chinca, Pachacamac, and St. Lorenzo, all small, but the latter of which is famous as forming the road of Callao, being the place where the Dutch fortified themselves in 1624, when they made an attempt against Lima.
North of these are the Farellones de Huara, which are dangerous rocks, and the isles de Saint Martin, de Santa, and de Chao, also very small, and close to the coast of Peru.
The next are the Lobos de Mar, formerly the resort of the Buccaneers, and the Lobos de Tierra, the first sixteen leagues from the shore, and the latter close to it; they are twelve miles from each other, in 6° 25' and 6° 45' south latitude, but are unimportant.
North of these, in the gulf of Guayaquil, is the large island of Puna already mentioned.
The next on the coast of New Granada is Salengo, a small isle near Cape Santa Elena, and still further is La Plata, the place where Sir Francis Drake divided his plunder, and is a very small isle close to the coast, in 1° 10' north latitude, which is followed at a considerable distance on the shore of Atacames, by the Isla del Gallo, a small uninhabited spot, furnishing good wood and water, in 2° 28' south latitude, and 76° 47' west longitude.