4th January 1834

Port Desire
The Adventure, not being ready for sea, the Captain determined to run down to Port St Julians about 110 miles to the South & to survey some of the intermediate coast. We floated with a strong tide out of harbour; it is called backing & filling from a particular manner of sailing the vessel & is a ticklish operation. Having passed the narrows, made sail: in a few minutes we struck rather heavily on a rock; the tide was ebbing, but with good fortune she struck only twice more & then went over. The Beagle, in her last voyage, struck in the night & as is now supposed, on the same rock, the summit is so small that the next day it could not be found by any efforts. On both occasions the Beagle has received no essential damage; for the which all in her ought to be grateful. At night we anchored off the coast.

.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
On the 4th of January both vessels anchored safely in Port Desire:—this was a bold stroke, but success attended it. They were thus placed at the southernmost point of the coast they were to survey, while the sun was farthest south; and as the days shortened, they would work along the coast northward. Recent traces of Indians were found; and the master of an American sealer told Mr. Wickham that they had been there in considerable numbers, about two months previously. The wells were all full; therefore much rain must have fallen during October, November, or December. I have mentioned elsewhere that although the eastern coast of Patagonia is usually an arid desert, there are periodical times, of short duration, at which rain falls abundantly.

3rd January 1834

Port Desire
During these days I have had some very long & pleasant walks. The Geology is interesting. I have obtained some new birds & animals. I also measured barometrically the height of the plain which must so lately have been beneath the sea; it has an altitude of 247 feet. Yesterday I shot a large Guanaco, which must, when alive, have weighed more than 200 pounds. Two males were fighting furiously & galloping like race horses with their ears down & necks low; they did not see me & passed within 30 yards; & then I settled the contest by shooting the Persecutor.

2nd January 1834

[Anchorage and Spanish Ruins, Port Desire]

Port Desire
A party of officers accompanied me to ransack the Indian grave in hopes of finding some antiquarian remains. The grave consisted of a heap of large stones placed with some care, it was on the summit of the hill, & at the foot of a ledge of rock about 6 feet high. In front of this & about 3 yards from it they had placed two immense fragments, each weighing at least two tuns, & resting on each other. These in all probability were originally in nearly the same position & only just moved by the Indians to answer their purpose. At the bottom of the grave on the hard rock, there was a layer of earth about a foot deep; this must have been brought from the plain below; the vegetable fibres, from the lodgement of water, were converted into a sort of Peat. Above this a pavement of flat stones, & then a large heap of rude stones, piled up so as to fill up the interval between the ledge & the two large stones. To complete the grave, the Indians had contrived to detach from the ledge an immense block (probably there was a crack) & throw it over the pile so as to rest on the two other great fragments. We undermined the grave on both sides under the last block; but there were no bones. I can only account for it, by giving great antiquity to the grave & supposing water & changes in climate had utterly decomposed every fragment. We found on the neighbouring heights 3 other & much smaller heaps of stones. They had all been displaced; perhaps by sealers or other Voyagers. It is said, that where an Indian dies, he is buried; but that subsequently his bones are taken up & carried to such situations as have been mentioned. I think this custom can easily be accounted for by recollecting, that before the importation of horses, these Indians must have led nearly the same life as the Fuegians, & therefore in the neighbourhood of the sea. The common prejudice of lying where your ancestors have lain, would make the now roaming Indians bring the less perishable part of their dead to the ancient burial grounds.

1st January 1834

Port Desire
Walked to a distant hill; we found at the top an Indian grave. The Indians always bury their dead on the highest hill, or on some headland projecting into the sea. I imagine it is for this reason they come here; that they do pay occasional visits is evident, from the remains of several small fires & horses bones near them.

30th December 1833

Port Desire
We got underweigh at four o’clock & reached Guanaco Island by midday, as the weather was cold & wet, I determined to walk to the ship. It turned out to be a very long one, from the number of inlets & creeks: The geology well repaid me for my trouble, & I found likewise a small pool of quite fresh water.

29th December 1833

Port Desire
By the middle of the day the Yawl could not get any higher, from the shoalness of the water & the number of mud-banks. One of the party happening to taste the water found it only brackish. Mr Chaffers, directly after dinner started in the dingy, & after proceeding two or three miles found himself in a small fresh water river. Small as it is, it appears to me probable, that it flows from the Cordilleras, the water is muddy as if flooded, & this is the time of year for the snow freshes of the Colorado, Sauce &c. — Mr Chaffers saw in a little valley a lame horse, with his back marked by the saddle; so that the Indians must have left him there or were then in the neighbourhead. The views here were very fine & rude; the red porphyry rock rises from the water in perpendicular cliffs, or forms spires & pinnacles in its very course. Excepting in this respect the country is the same. At night we were all well pleased at our discovery of the little river; which, however, was no discovery as a Sealer had said some years ago that he had been up it.

28th December 1833

Port Desire
The Yawl, under the command of Mr Chaffers with three days provisions, was sent to survey the head of the creek. In the morning we searched for some watering places mentioned in an old Chart of the Spaniards. We found one creek, at the head of which there was a small rill of brackish water. Here the tide compelled us to stay some hours. I, in the interval, walked several miles into the interior.

The plain, as is universally the case, is formed of sandy chalk, & gravel; from the softness of these materials it is worn & cut up by very many vallies. There is not a tree, &, excepting the Guanaco, who stands on some hill top a watchful sentinel over his herd, scarcely an animal or a bird. All is stillness & desolation. One reflects how many centuries it has thus been & how many more it will thus remain. Yet in this scene without one bright object, there is a high pleasure, which I can neither explain or comprehend. In the evening, we sailed a few miles further & then pitched the tents for the night.

27th December 1833

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
While the Liebre was absent, Mr. Stokes, in the Paz, surveyed many miles of the river, as well as the bar. No vessel drawing more than eleven feet water can enter without much danger: if at a favourable time any person should be induced to risk crossing the bar with a ship of greater draught, he should bear in mind that it is much more difficult to get to sea than it is to enter, because wind which is fair for approaching, raises the water; and the reverse. Although ships drawing fourteen feet have passed the bar, at unusually favourable times, others of only ten feet draught have been detained forty days in the river.

26th December 1833

Port Desire
The Beagle is anchored opposite to a fort erected by the old Spaniards. It was formerly attempted to make a settlement here; but it quite failed from the want of water in the summer, & the Indians in the winter. The buildings were begun in very good style, & remain a proof of the strong hand of old Spain. Some of the enclosures & some cherry trees may yet be seen. The fate of all the Spanish establishments on the coast of Patagonia, with the exception of the R. Negro, has been miserable. Port Famine, as it is well known, expresses the sufferings of the settlers. At St Josephs, every man, excepting two, was massacred by the Indians on a Sunday when in church. The two were prisoners some years with the Indians; one of them, now in extreme old age, I conversed with at R. Negro.

I walked this day to some fine cliffs, five miles to the South: here the usual geological story, of the same great oyster bed being upheaved in modern days was very evident. In the evening weather very cold, & a Tierra del Fuego gale of wind.

Christmas Day 1833

Port Desire
After dining in the Gun-room, the officers & almost every man in the ship went on shore. The Captain distributed prizes to the best runners, leapers, wrestlers. These Olympic games were very amusing; it was quite delightful to see with what school-boy eagerness the seamen enjoyed them: old men with long beards & young men without any were playing like so many children. Certainly a much better way of passing Christmas day than the usual one, of every seaman getting as drunk as he possibly can.

.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
His (Corporal Williams – see previous post) body was found, about three miles down the river, at sun-set the next evening (Christmas day). The governor (though a Roman catholic) allowed the burial to take place in the consecrated ground of the church, and the curate himself was present.

.

Syms Covington’s Journal:
Here we spent our Christmas; THE ships company went on shore. The Captain put prizes up for wrestling, jumping in sacks, running,etc.

24th December 1833

Port Desire
Took a long walk on the North side: after ascending some rocks there is a great level plain, which extends in every direction but is divided by vallies. I thought I had seen some desert looking country near B. Bianca; but the land in this neighbourhood so far exceeds it in sterility, that this alone deserves the name of a desert. The plain is composed of gravel with very little vegetation & not a drop of water. In the vallies there is some little, but it is very brackish. It is remarkable that on the surface of this plain there are shells of the same sort which now exist & the muscles even with their usual blue colour. It is therefore certain, that within no great number of centuries all this country has been beneath the sea. Wretched looking as the country is, it supports very many Guanacoes. By great good luck I shot one; it weighed without its entrails &c 170 pounds: so that we shall have fresh meat for all hands on Christmas day.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
At daylight on the 24th, Corporal Williams was missed, supposed to have fallen overboard in the night, while asleep. He slept on deck sometimes, when tormented by musquitoes; and as the Liebre's weather-cloth rail was but a few inches above the deck, he might possibly have rolled overboard into the stream, which would immediately have carried him away.

Syms Covington’s Journal:
This Port Desire is much the same as other parts of Patagonia, viz. sandy hills with very bad brackish water, and that obliged to dig for; but some of the valleys are very pleasant: in season there are plenty of wild cherries. They were nearly ripe at this time; I ate some which were rather tart, but tasted pleasant. Birds are not so numerous nor so splendid here as in many other parts of South America, but of course they are less well known. About this part no deer were seen, but immense quantities of guanacos, also lions, foxes, ostriches and aperea or guinea pig. The cliffs are full of fossil shells.

23rd December 1833

Port Desire (Puerto Deseado)
Arrived at Port Desire. Our passage has been a very long one of seventeen days; the winds generally being light & foul, with the exception of a fresh gale or two.

The Adventure delayed us: she is found not to sail well on a wind; & at this place her sails will be altered. The harbour of Port Desire, is a creek which runs up the country in the form of a river: the entrance is very narrow; but with a fine breeze, the Beagle entered in good style.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
… the Liebre entered the river again, and anchored near Carmen.

Syms Covington’s Journal:
Coast of Patagonia, Port Desire. Arrived at Port Desire December 23rd; went upriver to water the same day. The river is about three quarters of a mile wide. On the North side stands the remains of a small Spanish settlement that formerly was there: several houses with small citadel large enough, I should think for a hundred people. The buildings are all of stone, but the inhabitants were found missing (some years since), and have never since been heard of. It is supposed they were massacred by the Indians; the Indians appear to have a mortal hatred of the Spaniards.

18th December 1833

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
A south-east gale on the 18th drove her into the Colorado, where Lieutenant Wickham found a strong outset, owing to the 'freshes,' even during the flood-tide.

16th December 1833

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
Mr. Wickham arrived at Argentina on the 16th, and left it on the following day. In sailing out of Blanco Bay, along the south shore, while it was dark, the Liebre grounded frequently; but her crew got overboard, and hauled her over the banks as often as she was stopped by them, and at midnight she was at sea.