A Woman's Journey Round The World, From Vienna To Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Persia, And Asia Minor By Ida Pfeiffer
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Near The Strait Le Maire Begins, In The Opinion Of Seamen, The
Dangerous Part Of The Passage Round Cape Horn, And Ends Off The
Straits Of Magellan.
Immediately we entered it we were greeted with
two most violent bursts of wind, each of which lasted about
Half an
hour; they came from the neighbouring icy chasms in the mountains of
Terra del Fuego, and split two sails, and broke the great studding
sail-yard, although the sailors were numerous and quick. The
distance from the end of the Strait Le Maire to the extreme point of
the Cape is calculated to be not more than seventy miles, and yet
this trifling passage cost us three days.
At last, on the 3rd of February, we were fortunate enough to reach
the southernmost point of America, so dreaded by all mariners.
Bare, pointed mountains, one of which looks like a crater that has
fallen in, form the extremity of the mighty mountain-chain, and a
magnificent group of colossal black rocks (basalt?), of all shapes
and sizes, are scattered at some distance in advance, and are
separated only by a small arm of the sea. The extreme point of Cape
Horn is 600 feet high. At this spot, according to our works on
geography, the Atlantic Ocean changes its name and assumes that of
the Pacific. Sailors, however, do not give it the latter
designation before reaching the Straits of Magellan, as up to this
point the sea is continually stormy and agitated, as we learned to
our cost, being driven by violent storms as far back as 60 degrees
South lat.
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