136 PROGRESS OF OUR JOURNEY. 



through the upper end of the strait, in which 

 the current set to the southward ; and, having 

 gone half round the compass, and passed an 

 extensive opening to the right, we directed our 

 course to the westward. 



The wavering uncertainty of Maufelly in- 

 duced me to abstain from any remarks on the 

 time lost in rounding bays to look for some near 

 cut, which he had never seen, but which he 

 persisted in thinking must exist. Any opposition, 

 I well knew, would only produce a sulky obsti- 

 nacy, and put an end to all effective cooperation. 

 I therefore left him to follow his own plans, 

 confiding in that instinct which will guide an 

 Indian through the mazes of the darkest and 

 most tangled forest. The view to the south- 

 ward and westward might well be called that of 

 an inland sea ; for, with the exception of a dark 

 spot here and there, the range was bounded by 

 an horizon of sky and water, now gilded with 

 the brilliant rays of a setting sun. 



Holding more to the north, we threaded some 

 bleak and picturesque islands, apparently of 

 gneiss; for all were round and naked rocks, with 

 little or no vegetation, and rose abruptly from 

 the water's edge to a height varying from eighty 

 to a hundred and twenty feet. Near the spot 

 where we encamped was one considerably higher, 

 with liuse boulders on its obtuse and irregular 



