118 A MAGNIFICENT PROSPECT. 



spot. In the morning we forded the shallow 

 stream^ and as we proceeded, found in the 

 bold, wild features of the scene a striking dif- 

 ference from the smiling valleys through which 

 we had travelled on the preceding day. The 

 nearer we drew to the coast, the more abrupt 

 became the precipices and the higher the rocks, 

 which were overgrown with larch even to their 

 peaked summits. 



We wound round the bases of some hills, 

 and having with much fatigue climbed other 

 very steep ascents, reached towards noon a con- 

 siderable height, which rewarded us with a 

 magnificent prospect. Amongst the remarkable 

 objects before us, the ocean stretched to the 

 west, with the harbour of Romanzow, which 

 unfortunately will only afford admission to small 

 vessels ; the Russian settlement here, can there- 

 fore never be as prosperous as it might have 

 been, had circumstances permitted its esta- 

 blishment on the bay of St. Francisco. To the 

 east, extending far inland, lay a valley, called 

 by the Indians the Valley of the White Men. 

 There is a tradition among them, that a ship 

 was once wrecked on this coast ; that the white 



