392 POINT BACKHOUSE. 



ward determined me to keep along the high 

 shore where we were ; and having rounded 

 Victoria Headland, we passed a picturesque 

 waterfall tumbling from the rocks above, and 

 came to a high craggy point, which I named 

 after my friend John Backhouse, Esquire, the 

 able and excellent Under-Secretary of State for 

 Foreign Affairs. Near this was a tolerably large 

 island, and some others were seen more to the 



westward. 



The weather was fine and calm, the tide 

 ebbing; and some seals that quietly gazed at 

 our invasion of their domain afforded amuse- 

 ment to the men, as they sunk and rose again 

 without causing even a ripple that could be dis- 

 cerned. The shores were now becoming farther 

 apart ; and as I wished, if possible, to coast on 

 the other side, in order that advantage might be 

 taken of any favourable openings for the passage 

 to Point Turnagain, which, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, we had plenty of time to reach, I 

 landed at a mountain, and traced a line of ice 

 from a bay on the western shore to a point di- 

 rectly opposite, which has been called after 

 Rear-Admiral Gage. The haze of the atmo- 

 sphere, however, prevented the distance from 

 being clearly defined ; but it was at all events 

 cheering to behold clear water as far as the 

 eye could penetrate ; and though it was of 



