If ſuch an enterpriſe has not commenced, the period, however, cannot be diſtant, when a commercial ſearch after furs, ſeals, and whales, will lead adventurers to traverſe the Coaſts of Terra del Fuego and Patagonia, for them. The whales and ſeals are grown ſhy, and become ſcarce in other parts where they have been hitherto taken, ſo that new haunts muſt be reſorted to, in order to keep up the ſpirit of our fiſheries; and thoſe coaſts will probably employ fifty or ſixty ſail of merchant ſhips, as they abound not only with black whales and ſeals, but the ſea elephant and the ſea lion.
The Southernmoſt ſettlement of the Spaniards, known on the Weſtern ſide, is Brewers, or Engliſh Harbour, in Latitude 44° 20′ South[1]. To the South of it, is a great archipelago, and many deep inlets, which perhaps, are unknown to the Spaniards.
As from the circumſtances already mentioned, I had given up all ſearch after Anna Pink Bay, I was, from the ſame cauſe, induced to relinquiſh my deſign of looking into Brewers Harbour, and did not make land again, till we were in the Latitude 38° 39′, when we ſaw the Iſle Mocha.
In 40° South, we ſaw ſpermaceti whales, but did not take any till May 1.the firſt of May, when we made the Iſle, the ſea being
- ↑ This Harbour is named after Mr. Henry Brewer, who commanded a ſquadron of Dutch ſhips in 1642, belonging to the Dutch Weſt-India Company, on an expedition to the coaſt of Chili, who found in this port refreſhments of every kind, and alſo a ſafe and good anchorage.
