264 VOYAGE TO THE 



CHAP, meeting the current through the strait, may occasion 



■ , the shoal. About fourteen miles inland from Eidannoo, 



Aug. there is a remarkable conical hill, often visible when 

 the mountain-tops are covered, which, being well fixed, 

 will be found useful at such times by ships passing 

 through the strait. Twelve miles further inland, the 

 country becomes mountainous, and is remarkable for 

 its sharp ridges. The altitude of one of the peaks, 

 which is nearly the highest on the range, is 2596 feet. 

 These mountains, being thickly covered with snow, 

 gave the country a very wintry aspect. 



To the southward of Cape Prince of Wales the coast 

 trends nearly due east, and assumes a totally different 

 character to that which leads to SchismarefF Inlet, 

 being bounded by steep rocky cliffs, and broken by 

 deep valleys, while the other is low and swampy ground. 

 The river called by the natives Youp-nut nmst lie in 

 one of these valleys ; and in all probability it is in 

 that which opens out near a bold promontory, to which 

 I have given the name of York, in honour of his late 

 Royal Highness. On nearing that part of the coast 

 we found the water more shallow than usual. 



Having passed the night off Cape York on the 31st, 

 we steered to the eastward, and shortly discovered a 

 low spit of land projecting about ten miles from tlie 

 coast, which here forms a right angle, and having a 

 channel about two miles wide between its extremity 

 and the northern shore. We sailed through this 

 opening, and entered a spacious harbour, capable of 

 holding a great many ships of the line. We landed 

 first on the low spit at the entrance, and then stood 

 across, nine miles to the eastward, and came to an an- 

 chor off a bold cape, having carried nothing less than 

 five and a half fathoms water the whole of the way. 



