184
June' ice, breaking off from, the,.higher parts of the mainibqdy,and falling
>— y— * from a very confiderable height, which, in one inilance produced fo violent.
a {hock, that it was fenfibly felt ..by the „whole, party, although the
ground on which they, were was at- leaft,2 leagues.From the fpot where
the fall of ice had taken place. Mr. Whidbey oblerv.ed, that a large
portion of the few trees that this defolate and dreary region prpduced,
had.been much Blattered by the lateRorroy .weather; fome were torn up
by the roots, others bent .to the.ground, and -fome with their heads, intirely
broken off. After dinner they returned down this branch along its eaftern
fide, which like the oppofite Ihore is'firm andcompact, until they
reached a narrow opening lying fouth, 4 .miles, diftant. frqm the feepnd
low.projefting point. This opening led them through a narrow, paffage,
in fome. places a mile in others not a quarter of a mile wide, and in an
irregular direction about, srgg e., and about 3 leagues long, to a pointon
the continent communicating with the found, and making the .land ,pn
the.weft fide o f this, paffage .an ifland about* ten . miles .long, .and,four
. miles broad ; its fouth point being the north-gaff point of entrance into
, the arm leading to Paffage canal. Here .they.'relied,for-the .night, and.in
the morning of the gth continued their inquiry along, the fhores^f the
. continent, which took, though irregularly,.:about,an e. n. e, dffefilion,
ten miles to the fouth-weft point of an arm, which I called . P o i n t
P e l lew , leading to the northward, .where the ohferved latitude was
6o°§i', longitude 2 120,57'. T h e : fhores; that compote this extent,,of
coaft are formed by a : low border of land, extending [from, the rb,afe. o f
the mountains, much indented, with fmall bays,, arid .at high tide.great-
. ly interfered, by water,; it produces a few. dwarf trees,, and other, infig-
. nificant vegetable produftions; and like the other parts of the continent
bordering upon the found, is, bounded by Email iflands, iflets, and rocks,
extending into the found as far as they were able to difeern, and whiph
rendered the. progrefs* of the boats tedious and intricate. Here; they
were vifited by. a fmall party of the native Indians, who conduced them-
. felves.with great friendlinefs, and very civilly invited, our gentlemen,to
their habitations,-which they, pointed out to >.be .not far; off; but Mr.
Whidbey’s objeft leading him another way, -they mutually .bade each
other
other, fare well, and as our party proceeded, this arm was found to take
a north direction, in general about a league wide, and to terminate at
the diftance of about 4 leagues, at the foot of a continuation o f the
range of lofty mountains before mentioned. Its upper parts were much
incumbered with ice; as were both the eaftern and weftern tides with
innumerable rock-s, and fome iflets. In tbp. evening they reached a
point, which lies ». 83 t , at the diftance o f 8 miles from the above fouth-
weft point of the arm they had quitted ; here the party refted for the
night. About two the next morning (the 10th) their repofe was disturbed
by four Indians, who had ftruck a large-halibut, that occafioned
them fome trouble to fecure, very near the place- of their lodging; this
was at length very dexteroufly effected, and. the interruption experienced
was amply compenlat'ed by the fifh which they purchafed of
the Indians, and which afforded the party feveral good and acceptable
meals. -
A t four o’clock, the ufual time of moving, Mr. Whidbey proceeded
along the continental Ihore, through a paffage half a league wide, formed
by the fhores of the main land and an ifland lying along it, about a
league broad and feven miles long, in a direftion N. e . by e . Nearly
in the middle of this paffage is. a bay about 2 miles wide, and of the. famp
depth. This bay, which has its northern point fituated in latitude 6o°
5^-', longitude 21.3? 25b is the weftern extent of Senr- Fidalgo’s refearch-
es in this found, and was named by him Puerto Revilla Gigedo. To
the eaftward of this is another bay of rather larger dimenfions, with an
ifland in its north-eaft corner. It is a circumftance not .unworthy of.re-
jnark in thefe bays, fo near as they are to each other, the: former pre-
fenting a fouth-eaft, the latter aTputhern afpefil; and that the wefternmoft
fhould be nearly free from ice, whilft the eafternmoft, with a full fouth
expofure, fhould be terminated by a folid body of comp.a6l elevated ice,
fimilar to that which has been before deferibeff both being, equally
bounded, at no great diftance by a continuation of the high ridge.of fnowy
mountains ; as.they paffed the eaftern hay they again heard the thunder-
like noife, and found that it had been produced by the falling of the large
.pieces of ice that appeared to have been very recently feparated from the
V ol. III. - B h . mafs