A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions/Volume 2/Chapter 11
"Balsam-bog" plant (Bolax Glebaria). Falkland Islands. Page 263.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
1842.
Sept.During our stay in St. Martin's Cove, we had frequent visits from the natives: they came in small parties, and always took up their quarters in the wigwam at the head of the Cove, which seemed to be a kind of joint property. It was a most miserable shelter from the inclement weather of this period of the year; but so inured to it are these people, that it was not unusual to see them walking knee-deep in the snow on some of the bitterest days, without any covering beyond a small otter skin over the shoulders, reaching about half way down the back.
The Fuegians are truly described as the most abject and miserable race of human beings. The Esquimaux of the northern regions are as far superior to them in intelligence and civilization as are the New Zealanders of the southern hemisphere; and even the barbarous inhabitants of the interior of Australasia live in a state of comparative comfort.
Overawed by our superior numbers, they were kept in good order, with the exception of a few trifling instances of petty theft. They are admirable mimics, and were fond of the company of our people, singing and dancing with them, and entering into every kind of fun, for which seamen are so famous; and it was both amusing and interesting to witness their attempts to repeat the words and tunes of their songs, which they accomplished with a wonderful degree of facility. Landing one morning unexpectedly, I found our people teaching them to wash their faces; but the soap making their eyes smart, their ablutions were afterwards confined to the feet and hands: they then powdered their hair with flour, and decorated them with ridiculous ornaments, the natives greatly enjoying their altered appearance, heightened, in no small degree, by the present of a complete suit of clothes each, and many useful articles they got on board the ship: they went away in the evening rich and happy.
The greatest number we saw at one time amounted to no more than fifteen. They were living together like one family, near the beach in Joachim Bay, and the parties which visited us generally consisted of three men, two women, and two or three children. The men came on board the ships without hesitation, but the women were never allowed to leave the canoe, and employed themselves diving for sea eggs, or picking up limpets, which are their principal food.
The only weapons we saw in their possession were spears of three kinds, not unlike those of the Esquimaux, but of very inferior manufacture: they were of various sizes, according to the purpose to which they were applied, and to suit the power and size of the person using them. The largest was a beech wood staff, nine feet long and four inches in circumference, with a strong bone head, thirteen inches long, quite straight, and tapered to a fine point: the bone head, which was fitted into a socket at the heavier end of the spear, was secured by a strong seal skin thong, about a foot from each end of the spear, and used only for the destruction of the largest kind of seals. The bone head, when struck into the animal, trips out of the socket and acts as a toggle, whilst the released staff performs the part of a buoy.
Another spear, longer and lighter than the above, stained with red ochre, and armed with a barbed bone head, finely pointed, but without any seal skin thong attached, was probably employed against the smaller kinds of seals, or perhaps in warlike meetings, for the first party we met had spears of this nature concealed in the wood.
The third kind of spear was hardly five feet long, and proportion ably slender, armed with a bone head with seventeen notches, increasing in size from the point to the heel, securely fixed to the spear by a lashing of seal skin, and probably used for killing birds.
In one of the canoes that came alongside the ship, we observed three arrows of very rude make, pointed with obsidian, which they were unwilling to part with, and the bow they kept carefully concealed. In the same canoe was a white dog, which they were so much afraid of losing that I could not prevail upon them to let me see it. This party were strangers; and, on landing at the head of the cove, they were received in silence, and with a solemn countenance, by our first friends. They walked up to the wigwam, and seated themselves in a circle round the fire, without speaking a word or manifesting any expression of satisfaction or otherwise, at meeting. The women, as usual, remained in charge of the canoe, and in about an hour they all left the harbour. They had come from one of the neighbouring islands, and were in a more filthy state than any we had before seen; their bodies and heads being smeared with red ochre, mixed with oil or grease of intolerable smell.
The Fuegian men are of smaller stature than their northern prototypes, the Esquimaux. The average height of six of them scarcely exceeded five feet. They are an indolent race, throwing the labour of paddling the canoes and collecting shell-fish upon the women. Their conduct throughout the whole period of our stay was peaceable and inoffensive, and their cheerfulness and good temper rendered their presence agreeable to us rather than otherwise; and, from the number of useful presents they received in the shape of knives, axes, saws, and all kinds of carpenters' tools, fishing-lines, hooks, and a great variety of other articles, I trust our visit will not have been without considerable benefit to them.
Their language is most difficult and unpronounceable, so that we could only communicate with each other by signs, and of course could not gain any knowledge of their religious ideas; but we may now hope that the day is not far distant when the blessings of civilisation and the joyful tidings of the Gospel may be extended to these most degraded of human beings, for I have heard that at this moment some pious missionaries are about to commence their labours among the Patagonian Indians who live along the southern coast of the American continent.
They do not entertain that objection to having their hair cut, which Captain King mentions of the Fuegians in Fortescue Bay. After reading that anecdote I thought it right to proceed with caution to induce them to let my coxswain cut a lock from off some of our visitors; on presenting each of them with some hair they had seen him cut off my head, they did not make the least objection to his cutting theirs and giving it to me; and before we left the harbour, nearly all of them had their long dirty hair removed, and expressed much satisfaction at their short crop, which greatly improved their appearance.
We were prevented by the unsettled state of the weather from extending our researches to the neighbouring harbours or islands; but the able and detailed survey and description of them by Captains King and Fitzroy leave us nothing to regret on that account, beyond the gratification of our own curiosity. The suddenness and violence of the "williwaws" from off the high lands render navigation in open boats too dangerous to be hazarded, except there had been any object of sufficient importance to justify the risk; and our people were more usefully employed, whenever the weather admitted, in cutting down such trees as the carpenters selected as fit for building, to be conveyed by us to the settlement at Falkland Islands, where timber was greatly wanted, and in taking up, under the direction of Dr. Hooker, many hundred young trees of various kinds, which I was in hope might succeed when transplanted into those islands,—an important desideratum.
We found patches of celery near most of the wigwams, and thinking it probable that plant was cultivated by the natives, we cleared several small spaces and sowed a quantity of seeds of various kinds of vegetables, such as parsley, cabbages, potatoes, peas, beans, and the Kerguelen Island cabbage, in the hope of their being eventually useful to them. Several pairs of rabbits, which we had brought for the purpose from Falkland Islands, were landed at different parts of the harbour, and on some of the adjacent islands; and from the luxuriance of the vegetation I have no doubt they will thrive and multiply exceedingly.
Birds of different kinds were daily arriving from the northward, and our sportsmen succeeded in supplying our tables with woodcocks, quails, upland geese, and water-rails, whilst the cormorant, loggerhead duck, and kelp geese were eagerly solicited by the less fastidious Fuegians, who seemed to prefer them when in a putrid state.
We were unsuccessful in all our attempts at fishing; it was therefore probably too early in the season for the fish to enter the harbours. One evening we observed the water of the cove to be of a bright red colour; and, on examination, found it to be caused by an extraordinary multitude of a small species of cray-fish, filling the sea with their numerous progeny, at first not discernible in the mass, and probably brought here for the benefit of the fresh water, which poured into the head of the cove in a large continuous stream.
The annexed abstract from our Meteorological Journal for October, the second spring month of these regions, will serve to show that, although its mean temperature (which, in all other parts of the world is generally very nearly that of the whole year) is rather more than eight degrees lower than the temperature of April, its corresponding month in England, yet it must be borne in mind that our position was more than four degrees and a half of latitude nearer to the Pole than the Greenwich observatory; and if the difference be something greater than is due to this cause, still our observations at this place appear to contradict the general assertion that the southern hemisphere is colder by ten degrees than the northern. The range of temperature near Cape Horn in October is from 56° to 30°. In April, in England, it is much wider—from 74° to 29°.
The quantity of rain gives evidence of the humidity of the climate; and although there were ABSTRACT OF THE METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP EREBUS.—ST. MARTIN'S COVE, NEAR CAPE HORN, IN OCTOBER, 1842.
| Day. | Temperature of the Air in Shade. | Mean Tempera- ture of Sea at Surface. |
Temp. at 9 a.m. | Quantity of Rain. | |||
| Max | Min. | Mean. | Air in Shade |
Dew point. | |||
| ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | Inches | |
| 1 | 48 | 39.5 | 43.4 | 44.7 | 44 | 39 | .09 |
| 2 | 49.5 | 42 | 45.3 | 44.6 | 47 | 40 | .05 |
| 3 | 48 | 41 | 44.1 | 44.5 | 47 | 42 | .01 |
| 4 | 47 | 39.5 | 42.9 | 44.8 | 42 | 38 | .27 |
| 5 | 47 | 39 | 43.1 | 45 | 46 | 40 | .32 |
| 6 | 50 | 35.5 | 43.2 | 45.3 | 44 | 38 | .02 |
| 7 | 47.5 | 37 | 41.6 | 44.1 | 45.5 | 40 | |
| 8 | 50 | 37.5 | 44.6 | 45.7 | 44 | 42 | .31 |
| 9 | 53 | 40 | 46.7 | 45.7 | 49 | 27 | |
| 10 | 56 | 41 | 47.1 | 46 | 51 | 39 | |
| 11 | 54 | 37.5 | 43.2 | 45.3 | 48 | 31 | |
| 12 | 43 | 36.5 | 40 | 45 | 41 | 36 | .18 |
| 13 | 40 | 34 | 36.9 | 44.5 | 38 | 27 | .07 |
| 14 | 47 | 38 | 41.6 | 44.8 | 41 | 32 | .09 |
| 15 | 45.5 | 38 | 40.8 | 44.8 | 44 | 39 | .12 |
| 16 | 43 | 37 | 40.4 | 44.6 | 43 | 32 | .13 |
| 17 | 44 | 36 | 40.1 | 44.5 | 42 | 38 | .08 |
| 18 | 38 | 33.5 | 36.1 | 43.6 | 35 | 35* | 1.09 |
| 19 | 39.5 | 32 | 36.3 | 43.5 | 36 | 36* | .68 |
| 20 | 36 | 30 | 33.2 | 43 | 35 | 35* | .28 |
| 21 | 45.5 | 33 | 38.4 | 44 | 37 | 33 | 0.37 |
| 22 | 40.5 | 34 | 36.2 | 43.5 | 36 | 30 | 0.16 |
| 23 | 39 | 32.5 | 35.8 | 43.6 | 36 | 28 | 0.32 |
| 24 | 40.5 | 34 | 37.4 | 43.7 | 34 | 34* | 0.3 |
| 25 | 49 | 39 | 42.6 | 44.8 | 43 | 38 | 0.5 |
| 26 | 43.5 | 37.5 | 39.6 | 44.2 | 40 | 34 | 0.01 |
| 27 | 44 | 37 | 40.7 | 44.2 | 40 | 40* | 0.38 |
| 28 | 51 | 41 | 44.2 | 45.2 | 45 | 43 | |
| 29 | 50*5 | 42 | 46 | 45.6 | 48 | 40 | |
| 30 | 46 | 41 | 43.3 | 45 | 45 | 45* | .04 |
| 31 | 51 | 36.5 | 46.7 | 46.1 | 47 | 42 | .02 |
| 56 | 30 | 41.34 | 44.64 | 42.4 | 36-6 | 5.91 | |
ABSTRACT OF THE METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP EREBUS.—ST. MARTIN'S COVE, NEAR CAPE HORN, IN OCTOBER, 1842.
| Day. | Barometer. | Winds. | Weather. | |||
| Max. | Min. | Mean. | Direction. | Force. | ||
| Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | ||||
| 1 | 29.578 | 29.349 | 29.434 | S.W. | 2.3 | 0 g.r. |
| 2 | .745 | .570 | .625 | S.W. | 1.9 | 0 g. |
| 3 | .766 | .599 | .693 | S.W. | 1.5 | 0 g.r. |
| 4 | .761 | .540 | .670 | S.W. | 2 | 4 b.c. |
| 5 | .745 | .537 | .631 | S.W. | 1.5 | 0 r. |
| 6 | .745 | .420 | .614 | E.N.E. | 2.3 | 4 b.c. |
| 7 | .365 | .168 | .252 | E.N.E. | 2.3 | 2 b.c. |
| 8 | .522 | .280 | .414 | Variable | 1 | 6 b.c. |
| 9 | .498 | .211 | .389 | S.W. | 1.5 | 4 b.c. |
| 10 | .464 | .185 | .335 | Variable | 1.2 | 4 b.c. |
| 11 | .178 | .037 | .096 | N.W. | 1 | 6 b.c. |
| 12 | .316 | .112 | .208 | S.W. | 0.8 | 4 b.c. |
| 13 | .686 | .337 | .534 | S.W. | 3 | 0 q.s. |
| 14 | .699 | .098 | .435 | S.W. | 1.9 | 0 q. |
| 15 | .214 | .052 | .104 | S.W. | 2.2 | 0 g.r. |
| 16 | .432 | .045 | .316 | S.W. | 2.4 | 0 g.q. |
| 17 | 28.968 | 28.592 | 28.693 | S.W. | 2.2 | 0 q.n. |
| 18 | .632 | .252 | .415 | S.S.W. | 3.5 | 0 q.s. |
| 19 | .977 | .625 | .800 | S.W. | 2.1 | 0 q.s. |
| 20 | 29.176 | .661 | .911 | S.S.W. | 3.8 | 0 q.s. |
| 21 | .191 | .483 | .881 | S.S.W. | 2.1 | 0 g.s. |
| 22 | .008 | .455 | .621 | S.W. | 3.7 | 0 q.s. |
| 23 | .296 | 29.035 | 29.210 | Westerly | 1.6 | 2 b.c.p.s. |
| 24 | .486 | .310 | .417 | S.W. | 2 | 0 q.s. |
| 25 | .554 | .502 | .532 | S.W. | 1.6 | 3 b.c. |
| 26 | .656 | .430 | .540 | S.W. | 2.3 | 4 b.c.q. |
| 27 | .802 | .694 | .757 | S.W. | 1.2 | 0 g.r. |
| 28 | .712 | .313 | .463 | E.N.E. | 1.1 | 3 b.c. |
| 29 | .362 | .256 | .305 | S.W. | 1.2 | 5 b.c. |
| 30 | .416 | .298 | .308 | S.W. | 0.4 | 0 r. |
| 31 | .726 | .314 | .492 | Easterly | 0.5 | 4 b.c. |
| 29.802 | 28.252 | 29.293 | 1.9 | |||
The mean height of the barometer was 29.293 inches, and its range during the month, 1.55 inches. The observations did not extend over a sufficient space of time to enable us to determine the amount of atmospheric tide: it is, however, small, not exceeding .026 of an inch, the least pressure occurring about noon, and the greatest near midnight.
The prevailing winds are from the S.W., and we had four storms attended with snow, during which the gusts, or "williwaws," were so fierce as to carry the spray far higher than the mast-heads of our ship, although less than a quarter of a mile from the weather shore; and when they struck her on the broadside, they caused her to heel over as much as when under the heaviest press of sail she could carry. During some of the more violent of these hurricane squalls Lind's wind-gauge showed an amount of pressure equal to 36 lbs. on the square foot. These storms were generally predicted by a low barometer; and the Fuegians foretold them with still more certainty, when to us there appeared no sign of their approach. Easterly winds are generally light, and accompanied by fine weather and a high barometer, and the average force of the wind, 1.9, is less than at most other places.
The height of the tide was registered every half hour from the 27th of September to the 6th of November; and more frequently about the times of high and low water; the amount of semi-diurnal inequality of the tide is as great here as at the Falkland Islands, and at first seemed to present most unaccountable irregularities; but the limited period of observation did not admit of their thorough investigation: for practical purposes, however, the following are the results.
The first high water, after full moon on the 4th of October, occurred at 3h 15m; at new moon on the 19th at 4h 0m; and at full moon on the 2nd of November at 3h 37m; the mean time being 3h 37m.
At the quadratures it was high water at 9h 30m on the 27th of September; at 9h 0m on the llth of October; and at 9h 15m on the 26th of October; the mean time also being 9h 15m.
The highest tide occurs at either the seventh or eighth high water; and the largest tide, varying from 6 feet to 7 feet 1 inch, at the eighth low water after the full and change.
From one hundred and forty observations of high and low water, the mean level of the sea was computed by Captain Crozier, and a corresponding mark cut upon the perpendicular face of the rock on the S.E. side, near the head of the cove, where we always found the best landing, and where the tide-gauge was fixed.
The latitude of the observatory, which was placed about fifty yards above high water mark at the head of the cove, was 55° 51′ 20″ S., the longitude 67° 32′ 10″ W., the magnetic dip 58° 12′ 8″ S., and the mean variation for the month of October 22° 56′ 0″.2 E.
Nov. 7.On the 7th of November we sailed from St. Martin's cove, and the wind being favourable, we passed between its south cape and Chanticleer Island. The channel is fully a mile in width; but there are several dangerous rocks in it, which show themselves only when there is sufficient swell to form breakers. One of these hidden rocks lies in the channel between the island and the conspicuous rock off it; another lies about one-third of a mile outside of it, and is about one-fifth of a mile from Chanticleer Island, in a line with Mount Foster.
With the wind on our starboard beam we rounded Cape Horn in the forenoon, at a distance of three or four miles, the surf on the rocks off the cape was grand, and the white foam along the whole extent of the coast line, caused by the heavy southerly swell, was rendered more remarkable by the black cliffs against which it was beating.
Nov. 11.On the afternoon of the llth, being in latitude 54° 18′ S., and longitude 60° W., and near the danger called Burdwood Rock on the Admiralty chart, we hove to and obtained soundings in fifty fathoms; but we could not see the rock, nor any appearance of broken water, although the weather was clear, and the sea sufficiently rough for breakers to be visible at a considerable distance. The remainder of the day was spent in sounding and surveying the Burdwood Bank, which we traced between twelve and thirteen miles to the eastward, before darkness put an end to our examination.
The least depth of water we found upon it was twenty-four fathoms, the shoal forming a narrow ridge of volcanic rock, lying nearly east and west, the soundings rapidly increasing in depth on either side of the ridge, and consisting of coarse sand, small stones, and shells. The colour of the sea was observed to be a deep brown over the bank, some large patches of seaweed (macrocystis) were seen as we approached it, and the line of the bank was marked by a rough ripple upon the surface.
Ten miles to the northward we sounded in eighty fathoms on fine black sand; and thirty miles further to the north we had no soundings with three hundred fathoms.
Nov. 12.The next morning at 6 o'clock Beauchêne Island was seen, and we hove to off Cape Pembroke at midnight, to wait for daylight and clear weather; but the wind blowing from the westward the next morning, it occupied us twelve hours to beat up Berkeley Sound; and it was not until 6 o'clock in the evening that we anchored in Port Louis.
Lieutenant Sibbald met us outside the narrows with despatches and letters from England, which had been brought by H.M. brig Philomel during our absence; he also gave a satisfactory account of the health and conduct of the party under his command. I had the gratification of receiving a letter from the secretary of the Admiralty, conveying to me the expression of their lordships' great satisfaction at the successful result of our exertions, which, together with one of the same date, acquainting me with the promotion of Captain Crozier, Commander Bird, and Lieutenant A. J. Smith, will be found in the Appendix.
Nov. 14.An English barque, the Governor Halkett, with a valuable cargo of oil from Sydney, arrived the next day, having sprung a leak soon after leaving the harbour. We immediately sent as many hands from both ships as could work on board to discharge her cargo and look for the leak. It was fortunate we were in the harbour at the time, or this fine vessel must have been lost for want of means of repairing her. As it was, it occupied our people nearly a week in clearing her out, when a most dangerous leak was found in her bows and repaired by our carpenters; and, although every exertion was made to restow her cargo, it was not until the 1st of December she was able to proceed on her voyage to England.
Nov. 22.The Philomel came into Port Louis on the 22nd, and remained a few days with us, which afforded me an opportunity of acquainting Captain Sulivan with the exact position of the Burdwood bank, with the view to a more accurate examination than our time had admitted, and which it was of importance to accomplish, on account of the great danger of the loss of spars that vessels are liable to in passing over it, owing to the irregular breaking sea which must occur there during stormy weather.
Dec. 2.The Philomel sailed on the 2nd of December in prosecution of the survey of the islands, with which duty Captain Sulivan was charged.
Whilst the greater part of our crew were engaged on board the Governor Halkett, the remainder were employed landing the timber and young trees we had brought away from Hermite Island; the latter amounting to about eight hundred, consisting principally of the deciduous and evergreen beech as timber trees, and others of a more ornamental kind, of shrubby growth, were carefully planted under the protection of the substantial wall that enclosed the burial-ground; and, as nearly all of them put forth fresh buds soon after they were planted, they gave good promise of eventually furnishing these islands with trees which they greatly require.
As we could not spare hands to go cattle-hunting, and fresh beef could only be had from the government store in small quantities, fishing and shooting parties were occasionally sent out; and, together with the large collections of penguin's eggs that were made, we had no reason to complain.
The proper season for resuming our operations in the south being now at hand, our observations were concluded in the early part of December, and the ships made ready for sea.
The meteorological abstracts and remarks are printed in the Appendix.
The result of our magnetic observations gave the mean dip, and variation for each month as follows:—
| Variation. | Dip. | |||||||
| For | April | 17° | 50′ | 18″ | E. | 52° | 26′ | 1″ |
| May | 43 | 47 | 25 | 7 | ||||
| June | 38 | 10 | 25 | 5 | ||||
| July | 35 | 39 | 22 | 4 | ||||
| August | 33 | 0 | 23 | 1 | ||||
| September | 32 | 19 | ||||||
| October | 30 | 10 | ||||||
| November | 27 | 33 | 18 | 8 | ||||
| December | 16 | 1 | ||||||
The latitude of the observatory 51° 32′ 5″ S., and the longitude 58° 7′ W.
The state of the tide was registered every half hour between the 10th of May and 6th of September, and more frequently about the times of high and low water, from which the following general results were deduced, without reference to some remarkable irregularities which occurred, and which belong to the phenomena of periodical inequalities.
The mean time of high water at new moon is 4h 45m; at the first quarter, 5h 5m; at full moon, December. 6h 28m; and at the third quarter, 5h 9m after she passes the meridian.
The highest tide is the third high water after the full or change of the moon.
The greatest rise and fall is 6 feet 2 inches at new moon; but at full moon it varied from 4 feet 10 inches to 6 feet, and averages a smaller spring tide than occurs at new moon.
The largest spring tide, or difference between high and low water, invariably occurred at a low water, and as invariably at the low water nearest to midnight.
The mean level of the sea was deduced from five months' observations; and two permanent marks were made 5 feet 8 inches above it, first by levelling the top of a rock a little to the southward of the pier and watering-place; and again by cutting a ledge in the face of the cliff close by it. Two copper plates were fixed in the rocks, marked thus: "5 feet 8 inches above the mean level of the ocean, August, 1842., H.B.M. ships Erebus and Terror;" by which any difference that may occur in the level of the sea in those parts may readily be detected.