PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 357 



and the deep water, so that it became necessary to 

 carry out the stream anchor in the direction of her 

 wake, by means of which, and a little rise of the i826.' 

 tide, she was soon got off. 



This shoal, which extends eight miles off the land, 

 is very dangerous, as the soundings give very short 

 warning of its proximity, and there are no good 

 landmarks for avoiding it. The distance from the 

 shore, could it be judged of under ordinary circum- 

 stances, would on some occasions be a most treacher- 

 ous guide, as the mirage in fine weather plays about 

 it, and gives the land a very different appearance at 

 one moment from that which it assumes at another. 



As soon as we were clear of the shoal, we con- 

 tinued our course for Cape Krusenstern, near which 

 place we the next day buried a letter for Captain 

 Franklin, and erected a post to direct him to the 

 spot. The cape is a low tongue of land, intersected 

 by lakes, lying at the foot of a high cluster of hills 

 not in any way remarkable. The land slopes down 

 from them to several rocky cliffs, which, until the 

 low point is seen at the foot of them, appear to be 

 the entrance to the sound, but they are nearly a mile 

 inland from it. The coast here takes an abrupt 

 turn to the northward, and the current sets strong 

 against the bend ; which is probably the reason of 

 there being deep water close to the beach, as also the 

 occasion of a shoal in a north-westerly direction from 

 the point, which appears to have been thrown up by 

 the eddy water. 



The boat landed about two miles to the north- 

 ward of this point, upon a shingly beach sufficiently 

 steep to afford very good landing when the water is 

 smooth ; behind it there was a plain about a mile 



