Then Attempting, By An E.S.E. Course, To
Get Beyond The Land, They Were Constrained To Take In Their Topsails, By
The Wind Blowing Hard At North.
In the forenoon of the 24th they saw
land to starboard, at the distance of a league, stretching out to the
east and south, having very high hills all covered with snow.
They then
saw other land bearing east from the former, which likewise was high and
rugged. According to estimation, these two lands lay about eight leagues
asunder, and they guessed there might be a good passage between them,
because of a brisk current which ran to the southward in the direction
of that opening. At noon they made their latitude 54 deg. 46',[106] and
stood towards the before-mentioned opening, but were delayed by a calm.
At this place they saw a prodigious multitude of penguins, and such
numbers of whales that they had to proceed with much caution, being
afraid they might injure their ship by running against them.
[Footnote 106: They were here obviously approaching the Straits of Le
Maire, discovered on the present occasion, the northern opening of which
is in lat. 54 deg. 40' S. the southern in 55 deg. S. and the longitude 65 deg. 15'
W. from Greenwich. - E.]
In the forenoon of the 25th they got close in with the eastern land, and
upon its north side, which stretched E.S.E. as far as the eye could
carry. This they named States Land, and to that which lay westward of
the opening they gave the name of Maurice Land.[107] The land on both
sides seemed entirely bare of trees and shrubs, but had abundance of
good roads and sandy bays, with great store of fish, porpoises,
penguins and other birds. Having a north wind at their entrance into
this passage, they directed their course S.S.W. and going at a brisk
rate, they were at noon in lat. 55 deg. 36' S. and then held a S.W. course
with a brisk gale. The land on the south side of the passage or Straits
of Le Maire, and west side, to which they gave the name of Maurice
Land, [being the east side of the Terra del Fuego] appeared to run
W.S.W. and S.W. as far as they could see, and was all a very rugged,
uneven, and rocky coast. In the evening, having the wind at S.W. they
steered S. meeting with prodigious large waves, rolling along before the
wind; and, from the depth of the water to leeward, which appeared by
very evident signs, they were fully convinced that they had the great
South Sea open before them, into which they had now almost made their
way by a new passage of their own discovering.
[Footnote 107: The former of these names is still retained, but not the
latter; the land on the west of the Straits of Le Maire being Terra del
Fuego; and the cape at the N.W. of the straits mouths is now called Cape
St Vincent, while the S.W. point is named Cape St Diego.
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