THE VOYAGE OF THE HASSLER 133 



cliff; he reached the top utterly exhausted and falhng 

 down was obhged to He there for a little while before 

 he could gather strength enough to return. When a 

 giant like Pourtales acknowledges such failure as this, 

 he must have had pretty hard work, and you know 

 he always makes light of his own doings. 



I cannot tell you how impressive the loneliness of 

 this gulf and shore seems to me. When you reach the 

 top of the bluff behind the beach, you see only a 

 stretch of sandy plains as far as the eye can follow 

 with no growth upon it except dry looking shrubs 

 and coarse grass and low thorny cactus like prickly 

 pear. If it were in civilized regions you would only 

 say it was monotonous and uninteresting; but here 

 where anything human so rarely comes — for I sup- 

 pose in years no vessel enters this gulf, — it all seems 

 in harmony with the intense solitude. There is noth- 

 ing to bring men here, neither wood nor water, so 

 that I suppose it will remain deserted for many a year 

 to come. 



March 7 

 We have said good-bye to our peaceful sheltered bay 

 and are out at sea again. We left our anchorage in 

 faultless weather, so still, that we could hardly say 

 the vessel was moving; the whole gulf was like a mir- 

 ror and the sun went down without a cloud in bur- 

 nished gold. We had had such a pleasant visit in the 

 Gulf of San Mathias that we all left it with regret. As 

 long as the shore was in sight we could see our beach 

 fires still burning. We wondered who would light the 



