OBSERVATION OF THE COAST. 40? 



A conspicuous promontory to the eastward, blue 

 from distance, which had been before seen from 

 Point Beaufort, was now named after Captain 

 Bowles, R. N. ; and such was the change that had 

 been wrought, in the short interval of a few 

 hours, that the whole intermediate space was free 

 from impediment, had it suited our purpose to 

 traverse it. Indeed, the celerity with which the 

 ice had disappeared from the part where we 

 were now sailing was so astonishing, that the 

 men, w r ho were novices to polar phenomena, 

 looked doubtingly, and repeatedly asked each 

 other if this or that particular place were not the 

 same which but a short time before they had 

 seen blocked up and impassable. 



From a small rocky island which was passed 

 on the left, we made for a low sandy point, 

 named after Sir J. B. Pechell, Bart., and re- 

 marked that, scanty as was the vegetation in 

 the parts which we had quitted, it was here 

 sensibly growing less and less, consisting now 

 only of scattered tufts, gradually subsiding into 

 sterility. So flat was the western shore that a 

 solitary hillock five or eight feet high was a con- 

 spicuous land-mark ; while the eastern coast, on 

 the contrary, was bold and mountainous, as if 

 defying the rage of hail-storms from the pole. 

 The chain, however, was not of great extent ; 

 for at the end of sixteen miles it terminated in a 



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