culties. The 28th they got
sight of the coast of Chili, bearing E.S.E. and in the evening were
within a league of the shore, which appeared high and mountainous.

SECTION II:

_Transactions of the Fleet on the Western Coast of America_.

The admiral was at this time confined to bed, and wished to have put
into the port of Chiloe; but his instructions did not allow of this
measure, requiring the performance of some action of importance against
the Spaniards in Peru. It was therefore resolved to proceed for the
island of Juan Fernandez, to make the best preparations in their power
for attacking the Spanish galleons in the port of Arica, if found there,
and to gain possession of that place, after which it was proposed to
extend their conquests by the aid of the Indians. On the 1st April,
being then in lat. 38 deg. 10' S. the vice-admiral took to his bed, quite
worn out with fatigue, so that they expected to lose both the admiral
and him. On the 4th they had sight of Juan Fernandez, in lat. 33 deg. 50' S.
and next day came to anchor in sixty fathoms in a fine bay. The 6th
orders were issued to provide all the ships with as many
cheveaux-de-frize and pallisades as they could. The Griffin joined the
fleet in the evening, not having been seen since the 2d February. She
had been in the lat. of 60 deg. S. and had got into the South Sea without
seeing Cape Horn. The Orange arrived on the 7th, having twice seen the
southern continent on her passage, once in lat. 50 deg., and the other time
in lat. 41 deg. S.[138] The David came in on the 7th, bringing advice of the
Maurice, both vessels having been five or six days beating about the
island, but hindered from getting in by contrary winds.

[Footnote 138: No land whatever could be seen in these latitudes in the
eastern Pacific, so that they must have been deceived by fog, banks, or
islands of ice.--E.]

The larger and more easterly of the two islands of Juan Fernandez is in
the latitude of 30 deg. 40' S. five degrees west from the coast of Chili;
this island being called by the Spaniards _Isla de Tierra_, and the
smaller or more westerly island _Isla de Fuera_, which is a degree and
a half farther east.[139]

[Footnote 139: Isola de Tierra, the eastermost of these islands of Juan
Fernandez, in lat. 33 deg. 42' S. and long. 79 deg. 5' E. is about 15 English
miles from E. to W. by 5-1/2 miles in its greatest breadth from N. to S.
Besides this and Isola de Fuera, mentione