C H A P . ungenial climate of the foiT
served in the heavens, in the direction of the burnin
Nov.
1826.
Shortly after dark flashes were oh-
niountain of
Alaska, sometimes so strong as to be mistaken for sheet lightning, at
others very confined; viewed with a telescope, they appeared to consist
entirely of bright sparks. They seemed to proceed from different jiarts
of a long narrow cloud elevated 8°, and lying in the direction of the wind.
Onr distance from the volcano at this time was about seventy miles,
and as similar flashes were observed in this place the following year, it is
very probable they were caused by an eruption. This mountain, I am
informed, has burnt lately with great activity, and has been truncated
much lower than is represented in the drawings of it in Captain Cook’s
Y'oyage*.
After clearing the Aleutian Chain, we had the winds from the west-
ward, and made rapid progress towards our port. The first part of the
passage was remarkable for heavy rolling seas, misty weather, and a
low barometer, which varied a little each side of 28,5; in the latter
part of the passage we had dry foggy weather, and the barometer was
at 30,5.
On the Sth of November we made the high land of N ew Albion
about Bodega, and soon afterwards saw Punta de los Eeyes, a remarkable
promontory, from which the general line of coast turns abruptly
to the eastward, and leads to the port of St. Francisco.
W e stood to the southward during the night, and about three
o’clock in the morning unexpectedly struck soundings upon a clayey
bank in 35 fathoms very near the Farallons, a dangerous cluster of
rocks, which, until better known, ought to be avoided. The ship was
put about immediately; but the next cast was 25 fathoms in so stiff a
clay that the line was broken. The weather was very misty, and a
long swell rolled towards the reefs, which, had there been less wind,
would have obliged us to anchor; but we increased our distance from
them, and deepened the water. This cluster of rocks is properly
divided into two parts, of which the south-eastern is the largest and
the highest, and may be seen nine or ten leagues in clear weather.
The most dangerous part is apparently towards the north-west.
* S ee aiso Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iti. p. S83.
The next evening we passed Pùnta dc los lleyes, and awaited the cHAP.
return of day off some white cliffs, which, from their being situated so
near the parallel of 38° N, arc in all probability those which induced Sir x„,.
Francis Drake to bestow upon this country the name of New Albion.
They appear on the eastern side of a bay too exposed to authorize the
conjecture of Vancouver, that it is the same in which Sir Francis refitted
his vessel.