Chapter I: Preface

In preparing the following pages for the press, I have endeavoured to give a brief account, divested as much as possible of technicalities, of the principal points of interest in Natural History which came under observation during the wanderings of a surveying ship; while at the same time I have done my utmost, at the risk of rendering the narrative disconnected, to avoid trenching on ground which has been rendered familiar by the writings of travellers who have visited the same or similar places. And if in a few instances I have given some rather dry details regarding the appearance and surroundings of certain zoological specimens, it has been my intention, by an occasional reference to the more striking forms of life met with in each locality, to afford some assistance to those amateurs who, like myself, may desire to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded by the surveying ships of the British Navy for performing, although with rude appliances and very few books of reference, some useful and interesting work.

Large collections of zoological specimens were made, and as these accumulated on board, they were from time to time sent home to the Admiralty, whence they were transmitted to the British Museum, the authorities of that institution then submitting them to specialists for systematic description. For much kindly aid in making these arrangements, as well as for advice and encouragement received during the progress of the cruise, I am indebted to Dr. Albert Günther, F.R.S., Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum.

I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Frederick North, R.N., for the use of a collection of photographs which were taken by him during the cruise under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, and of which most of the engravings in this work are reproductions.

I am also under obligations to all the other officers for assistance rendered to me in various ways; and especially to those officers who acted successively as Senior Lieutenants, for the consideration with which they tolerated those parts of my dredging operations that necessarily interfered with the maintenance of good order and cleanliness on the ship's decks.

Finally, I have to thank my friend, Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, the distinguished ornithologist of the British Museum, by whose advice and encouragement I was induced to submit these pages to the public, for his assistance in perusing my MS., and offering some useful suggestions.

R. W. C.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION.

Object of the Voyage--Former Surveys of Straits
of Magellan--Change of Programme--Selection of
Ship--Equipment--Arrangements for Natural History
Work--Change of Captain--List of Officers 1-4

CHAPTER I.

Departure from England--Storm Petrels--A Sparrow-hawk
at Sea--Collecting Surface Organisms with
Tow-net--Water-kite--Wire Sounding Apparatus--Land-swallow
at Sea--Gulfweed--Phosphorescence of Sea-water--Arrive
at Madeira--Curious Town--Dredging Work--A
Pinery--Discoloured Sea-water--Petrels again--St.
Vincent--Cape de Verde--Pelagic Animals--Sounding near
Abrolhos Bank--Dredging over Hotspur Bank--Dredging
over Victoria Bank--Moths and Butterflies on the
Ocean--Extraordinary Vitality of Sphinx Moths--Arrive at
Monte Video--Gauchos--Trip into Interior of Uruguay--Buenos
Ayres--Dr. Burmeister's Museum--Arrive at the
Falklands--"Stone Runs" 5-33

CHAPTER II.

We enter Straits of Magellan--Reach Sandy Point--Gold
and Coal--Surrounding Country--Elizabeth
Island--Dredging--Fuegians at Port Famine--We
enter Smyth's Channel--Canoe "Portage" at Isthmus
Bay--Arrive at Tom Bay--A Fuegian Family--Trinidad
Channel--Climate of Western Patagonia--Flora--Rock
Formation--Soilcap--Natives--The Channel Tribe of
Fuegians--Scarcity of Old People--Water-birds of Tom
Bay--Sea Otters--A Concealed "Portage"--Habits of Gulls and
Shags--Steamer-ducks--Land-shells--Fresh-water Fish--Deer 34-65

CHAPTER III.

Trinidad Channel gouged out by Glaciers--Port
Henry--Trumpet-shells--Native Camp--Wolsey Sound--"Cache
Diablo"--"Ripple-marked" Limestone--Fuegian
Burial-place--Marine Animals--Strange Capture
of Fish--Whales Abundant--Exploration of Picton
Channel--Attack on Sealers--Signs of Old Ice
Action--"Hailstone" Rock--Soil motion--We proceed Northward
to Refit--English Narrows--Gulf of Peñas 66-80

CHAPTER IV.

Arrival at Valparaiso--War between Chili, Peru, and
Bolivia--Sir George Nares returns to England--Captain
Maclear joins--Coquimbo--Shell Terraces--Trip to
Las Cardas--Habits of _Pteroptochus_--Island of
St. Ambrose--Habits of Petrels--Flight of the
Albatross--Santiago de Chilé--Natural History Museum--Santa
Lucia--Church of La Compania--Heights of Montenegro--A
Fly-trap Plant--Copper mines of Brillador--Peculiarities of
Chilian Mines--Talcahuano--Outbreak of Small-pox--Isla de
los Reyes--Shooting a "Coypo"--Railway Trip to Araucanian
Territory--Our Locomotive--Incidents of the Journey--Fossil
Tree-trunk at Quiriquina Island 81-102

CHAPTER V.

We return to Patagonian Waters--Gulf of Peñas--Spring in
the Trinidad Channel--Gephyrean at Cockle Cove--Diving
Petrel--Tree Cormorants--Magellan Kingfisher--A
Curious Moss--Wind-swept Bushes--Gull, Cormorant, and
Skua--Examination of Brazo del Norte--Black-necked
Swan--A Sealer's Yarn--Fur-seal Trade--Hardships of
Seal-hunting--Otter Skins--Experiment with Condor--Fuegians
at Tilly Bay--Flaking Glass Arrow-heads--List of Fuegian
Words--The _Maranhense_--A Magellan Glacier--Native
Fish-weirs--The Magellan Nutria 103-126

CHAPTER VI.

We proceed towards Skyring Water--Otway Water--Canal of
Fitzroy Terrace-levels--Plants and Animals--Bay of the
Mines--Previous Explorers--The Coal Mines--Altamirano
Bay--Prospects of the Settlement--A Seal "Rookery"--Puerto
Bueno--We proceed Northwards--Port Riofrio--Gray
Harbour--Sailing for Coast of Chili--Small-pox amongst
the Chilians--Discoloured Sea-water--Habits of Ant Thrush 127-143

CHAPTER VII.

Early History of Tahiti--Otaheite and Tahiti--Its appearance
from Seaward--Harbour of Papiété--Produce--Matavai
Bay--Tahiti annexed to France--Prince Tamitao--Annexation
Festivities--King Pomare V.--Coral growing on Ship's
Bottom--Nassau Island--Danger Islands--Tema Reef--Union
Group--Nukunono--Oatáfu--Natives afflicted with a Skin
Disease--Stone Implements--Religious Scruples--Metal
Fish-hooks not appreciated--Capriciousness of Sharks--Lalla
Rookh Bank 144-158

CHAPTER VIII.

Arrival at Fiji--Levuka--Ratu Joe comes on Board--Excursion
to Bau in Viti Levu--We visit King Cacobau--A Native
Feast--Lalis--Tapa--The Bure Kalou--Bakola--Old Fijian
Atrocities--Double Canoe--Stone Adzes now becoming
rare--Angona Drinking--Sir Arthur Gordon--Walk across
Ovalau--The Kaicolos--An Imprudent Settler--Pine-apple
Cultivation--_Periophthalmus_--Suva--Site of Future
Capital--Sail towards Tonga Islands--Pelagic Animals--Early
History of Tonga--Missionaries--Nukualofa--A Costly Pair
of Gates--Visit to Bea--Davita--Evidence of Elevation of
Island--King George of Tonga--Wellington Gnu--Curious Stone
Monument--Trip to Village of Hifo--We are entertained by
the Natives--Famous Caves--Eyeless Fish--Swifts behaving
like Bats--Searching for Reefs--Discolouration of
Sea-water--Return to Levuka--Voyage to Australia--Surface
Life 159-179

CHAPTER IX.

Refitting Ship at Sydney--Mr. Haswell joins us--We proceed
Northwards along East Coast of Australia--Port Curtis,
Queensland--A "Labour Vessel"--Mr. Eastlake--Marine
Fauna abundant--Festivities at Gladstone--Birds--Percy
Islands--Survey of Port Molle--Queensland
Aborigines--"Black Police"--"Dispersing" Black
fellows--Dredging Operations--A Parasitic Shell-fish--Port
Denison--Visit to a Native Camp--Throwing the Boomerang--A
Beche-de-mer Establishment at Lizard Island--Hostility of
the Natives--Drawings by Aborigines at Clack Island--Albany
Island, North-Eastern Australia 180-193

CHAPTER X.

Settlement at Thursday Island--Torres Straits
Islanders--Pearl-Shell Fisheries--Value of
the Shell--Pearls not abundant--Neighbouring
Islands--Lizards--Land-crab--Land-shells--Ferns--Birds--Booby
Island--Arrive at Port Darwin, North-Western
Australia--Submarine Cables--Trans-continental
Telegraph--Palmerston--Northern Territory
Gold-fields--Aborigines at Port Darwin--Marine
Fauna--Birds--Geese perching on Trees 194-208

CHAPTER XI.

Voyage from Port Darwin to Singapore--Through the
Eastern Archipelago--We arrive at Singapore--Oceanic
"Tiderips"--Bird Island, Seychelles--Sea-birds on
Land--Port Mahé, Seychelles--The Coco-de-Mer--Gigantic
Tortoise--Produce of the Islands--Vanilla--A Primitive
Crushing-mill--Dredging Operations--_Periophthalmus_--The
Seychelles, of Granitic Structure--We visit the Amirante
Group--African Islands--Abundance of _Orbitolites_--Crabs
pursued by Eels--Eagle Island--Partridge shooting--Young
Lizards--Darros Island--_Casuarinas_--Dredging--Poivre
Island--Trees and Shrubs--Isle des Roches--Flora
scanty--Land-birds--General Remarks on the Amirantes as a
Group--"Fringing Reefs," but no "Barrier Reefs"--Signs of
Elevation--Weather and Lee Sides contrasted 209-229