370 VOYAGE TO THE 



with to the southward, and two or three besides. 

 Cape Beaufort is composed of sandstone, enclosing 

 A S!' bits of petrified wood and rushes, and is traversed 

 by narrow veins of coal lying in an E. N. E. and 

 W. S. W. direction. That at the surface was dry 

 and bad, but some pieces which had been thrown up 

 by the burrowing of a small animal, probably the 

 ermine, burned very well. 



As this is a part of the coast hitherto unexplored, 

 I may stand excused for being a little more particu- 

 lar in my description. Cape Beaufort is situated in 

 the depth of a great bay, formed between Cape Lis- 

 burn and Icy Cape, and is the last point where the 

 hills come close down to the sea, by reason of the 

 coast line curving to the northward, while the range 

 of hills continues its former direction. From the 

 rugged mountains of limestone and flint at Cape 

 Lisburn, there is an uniform descent to the rounded 

 hills of sandstone at Cape Beaufort just described. 

 The range is, however, broken by extensive valleys, 

 intersected by lakes and rivers. Some of these lakes 

 border upon the sea, and in the summer months are 

 accessible to baidars, or even large boats ; but as 

 soon as the current from the beds of thawing snow 

 inland ceases, the sea throws up a bar across the 

 mouths of them, and they cannot be entered. The 

 beach, at the places where we landed was shingle 

 and mud, the country mossy and swampy, and in- 

 fested with moskitos. We noticed recent tracks of 

 wolves, and of some cloven-footed animals, and saw 

 several ptarmigans, ortolans, and a lark. Very little 

 drift wood had found its way upon this part of the 

 coast. 



We reached the ship just after a thick fog came 



