1792* have deferted. Not a bird, nor living creature was to be feen, and the
■ * roaring o f the falling catarafts in every direftion precluded their being
heard, had any been in our neighbourhood.
Towards noon I confidered that we had advanced feme miles within
the weftern boundary of' the fnowy barrier, .as Tome, o f its rugged lofty
mountains were now behind, and-to the fouthward of us. This filled
my mind with the-pleafing hopes o f finding our way to its eaftern fide.
The fun filming at this time for a few minutes afforded-an opportunity
of afcertaimng the latitude o f the eaft point of an lfland which, from the
ftiape o f the mountain that eompofes it, obtained the name o f A n v i l
I s l a n d , tobe 49“ 30', its longitude 237° 3'. We paffed an,ifland in the
Friday 15. forenoon lying on the eaftern fhore, oppofite to an opening on the weftern,
which evidently led into the' gulph nearly in a S.-w. direftion,
through a numerous affemblage of rocky iflands and rocks, as alfo another
opening to the weftward o f this lfland, that feemed to take a fimilar
direftion. Between Anvil ifland, "and the north point of the firft opening,
which lies from hence s. by w . 5 miles diftant, are three white
rocky iflets, lying about a mile from the weftern fhore, The width of
this branch of the found is about a league; but northward from Anvil
ifiand it foon narrows to half that breadth, taking a direction to the
n . n . e . as far as latitude 490 39', longitude 2370 9', where all our ex-
peftations vanifhed, in finding it to terminate in a round bafon, encom-
pafled on every fide by the dreary country already defcribed. A t its
head, and on the upper part of the eaftern fhore; a narrow margin of
low land runs from the foot o f the barrier mountains to the water-fide,
which produced a few dwarf pine trees, with fome little variety of underwood.
The water of the found was here nearly frefh, and in colour
a few fhades darker than milk ; this I attributed to the, melting of the
fnow, and its water pafling rapidly over a chalky furface, which, appeared
probable by the white afpeft of fome of the chafms that feemed
formerly to have been the couffe of water-fall, but were now become dry.
The gap we had entered, in the fnowy barrier feemed of little importance,
as through the vallies caufed by the: irregularity of the mountain’s
tops, other mountains more diftant, and apparently more elevated, were
feen
feen,: rearing their lofty heads in various direftions. In this dreary and j792-
comfortiefs region, it was no inconfiderable piece of good fortune to t---- ,----
find a little cove in which we could take Ihelter, and a fmall fpot of level
land on which we could ereft our tent; as we had fcarcely fi'nilhed our
examination, when the wind became exceflively boifterous from the
fouthward, attended with heavy fqualls and torrents of rain which continuing
until noon the following day, occafioned a very unpleafant de- Fnday ‘ 5-
tention. But for this circumftance we might too haftily have concluded,
that this part of the gulph was uninhabited. In the morning we were
vifited by near forty of the natives, on whofe approach, from the very
material alteration that had now taken place in the face of the country,
we expefted to find fome difference in their general charafter. This
conjefture was however premature, as they varied in no refpeft whatever,
but in poffeffmg a more ardent defire for commercial tranfaftions;
into the fpirit of which they entered with infinitely more avidity than
any of our former acquaintances, not only in bartering amongft them-
felves, the different valuables they had obtained from us, but when that
trade became flack, in exchanging-thofe articles again with our people;
in which traffic they always took care to gain fome advantage, and
would frequently exult on the occafion. Some fifli, their garments,
fpears, bows and arrows, to which thefe people wifely added their copper
ornaments, comprized their general flock in trade. Iron, in all
its forms, they judicioufly preferred to any'other article we had to offer.
The weather permitting us to proceed, we direfted our route along
the continental or weftern fhore of the found, pafling within two fmall
iflands and the main land, into the opening before mentioned, ftretching
to the weftward from Anvil ifland. At the diftance of an hundred
yards from the fhore, the bottom could not be reached with 60 fathoms
of line, nor had we been able to gain foundings in many places fince
we had quitted point Atkinfon with 80 and 100 fathoms, though it was
frequently attempted ; excepting in the bafon at the head of the found,
where the depth fuddenly decreafed from 60 fathoms to 2. We had
advanced a fhort. diftance only in this branch, before the colour of the
water changed from being nearly milk white, and almoft frefh, to that
V o i . I. R r of