177^' ROUND THE WORLD. 15 



Having brought to for the night, we made sail 

 along the shore at four in the morning, in the di- 

 rection of N. E. i~ N. with a moderate breeze at 

 S. S. E. At noon our latitude, by observation, was 

 45 13' S. At this time, being about a league and 

 and a half from the shore, we sounded, but had no 

 ground with seventy fathom : we had just passed a 

 small narrow opening in land, where there seemed 

 to be a very safe and convenient harbour, formed by 

 an island, which lay in the middle of the opening at 

 east. The opening lies in latitude 45'l6 / S., and on 

 the land behind it are mountains, the summits of 

 which were covered with snow, that appeared to have 

 been recently fallen ; and indeed for two days past 

 we had found the weather very cold. On each side 

 the entrance of the opening, the land rises almost 

 perpendicularly from the sea to a stupendous height, 

 and this indeed was the reason why I did not carry 

 the ship into it, for no wind could blow there but 

 right in, or right out, in the direction of either east 

 or west, and I thought it by no means advisable to 

 put into a place whence I could not have got out 

 but with a wind which experience had taught me 

 did not blow more than one day in a month. In 

 this, however, I acted contrary to the opinion of 

 some persons on board, who in very strong terms 

 expressed their desire to harbour for present con- 

 venience, without any regard to future disad- 

 vantages. 



In the evening, being about two leagues from the 

 shore, we sounded, and had no ground with 108 

 fathom: the variation of the needle, by azimuth, was 

 14 E. and by amplitude 15 %!. We made the best 

 of our way along the shore with what wind we had, 

 keeping at the distance of between two and three 

 leagues. At noon, we were in latitude 44 47', having 

 run only twelve leagues upon a N. E. \ N. course, 

 during the last four-and-twenty hours. 



We continued to steer along the shore, in the direc- 



