It is of a moderate height, and of a verdant ſhaggy appearance, from the large buſhes or low trees that cover it. Its length is from ſix to ſeven miles; and the Weſtern ſide is an entire cliff of an inacceſſible appearance. A few ſmall iſlets appear off the South end of it.
In a war with Spain this iſland would form an excellent ſtation, as well as a place to look out and accommodate the ſick, as it lies four leagues from the neareſt main land, which is Cape Lorenzo. A ſhip getting in there, when it was dark, would not be diſcovered, if her ſails were handed, the land being much higher than her maſt head; unleſs the people on board betrayed her ſituation by ſome act of indiſcretion, as making too much fire, the ſmoke of which might diſcover them. It is true that a veſſel might eſcape by keeping an offing; but in ſo fine a climate as this, the long boats might form a chain to the Galapagoes, which is as far Weſt as any ſhips are known to paſs.
We continued a very aſſiduous ſearch up the coaſt for whales, carrying an eaſy ſail by day, and laying too at night, with an hourly expectation that we ſhould fall in with them; but no whales ſhewed themſelves, except ſome of the humpbacked ſpecies.
