BORLASES VISIT TO SCILLY. 195 



books,* set sail in the sloop Goclolpliin at seven in the 

 morning, and about nine in the evening drew near the 

 islands — drew near, but dared not venture nearer ; 

 because, a " very thick fog ensuing, the sailors began 

 to be apprehensive whether they should fall in with 

 the proper passage into St Mary's Island or not : 

 sometimes they thought they could see the land, but 

 were always uncertain what part of the island it was. 

 This determined us to continue turning off and on (in 

 sea affairs give me leave to use sea expressions), and 

 wait for the mornino-. Duriiio; this interval we had a 

 very uneasy time of it, and nothing to do but to expect 

 the daylight, which, you may be assured, was with 

 great impatience. The day came, but the fog con- 

 tinued so thick that we had no benefit from it." In 

 this fog they continued beating about, in terror of 

 getting entangled among the narrow guts ; but about 

 six the fog cleared, and revealed to them St Mary's 

 Island close at hand. " We were such true sailors," 

 he says, " that we immediately lost sight of the dan- 

 ger we had escaped, delighted as we were with the 

 thoughts of being soon in port, and the uncommon 

 appearance of the land (if what is mostly rocks can be 

 called so) on each side of us as we passed. It was 

 Crow's Sound ; and I must own the sight of it gave 

 me much pleasure, which you will, and justly may in 

 some measure, attribute to our sudden transition from 



* Thanks to that most convenient, and to all students most valuable 

 of institutions, The London Library, which manifold experience causes 

 me to urge every man of letters to join. 



