177& THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 153 



CHAP. V. 



DEPARTURE FROM CHRISTMAS HARBOUR. RANGE ALONG 



THE COAST, TO DISCOVER ITS POSITION AND EXTENT. 



SEVERAL PROMONTORIES AND BAYS, AND A PENINSULA, 

 DESCRIBED AND NAMED. DANGER FROM SHOALS. AN- 

 OTHER HARBOUR AND A SOUND. MR. ANDERSON^ OB- 

 SERVATIONS ON THE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, ANIMALS, 

 SOIL, &C. OF KERGUELEN'S LAND. 



jtVs soon as the ships were out of Christmas Harbour, 

 we steered S. E. i S., along the coast, with a fine 

 breeze at N. N. W., and clear weather. This we 

 thought the more fortunate, as, for some time past, 

 fogs had prevailed, more or less, every day ; and the 

 continuance of them would have defeated our plan of 

 extending Kerguelen's discovery. We kept the lead 

 constantly going; but seldom struck ground with a 

 line of fifty or sixty fathoms. 



About seven or eight o'clock, we were off a pro- 

 montory, which I called Cape Cumberland. It lies 

 a league and a half from the south point of Christmas 

 Harbour, in the direction of S. E. - S. Between 

 them is a bay with two arms, both of which seemed 

 to afford good shelter for shipping. Off Cape Cum- 

 berland is a small but pretty high island, on the 

 summit of which is a rock like a sentry-box, which 

 occasioned our giving that name to the island. Two 

 miles farther to the eastward, lies a groupe of small 

 islands and rocks, with broken ground about them; 

 we sailed between these and Sentry-Box Island, the 

 channel being a full mile broad, and more than forty 

 fathoms deep; for we found no bottom with that 

 length of line. 



Being through this channel, we discovered, on the 



