70 CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 



comfortable berth for them safe from the sea, which now thundered ou the opposite or lake side of 

 the point. The morning was spent in preparation for our voyage down Hotham Inlet. I got 

 observations and bearings of |)rominent points in the neighborhood to assist nie in the pr('i)aration 

 of a chart, and swung the launch to find the error of the compass. At 4 p. ni., everytliing being 

 fn readiness, we got under way and started down the bay having a two-and-a-halfknot current 

 to assist ns. Toward G o'clock a light breeze from the eastward sprang up and wc increased our 

 speed to four knots per hour. Tlie skin boat, with Andre and Natorak as captain and crew, kept 

 steadily ahead of us. At 8 p. m. we stopped for supper on the east side of the bay, and Andre 

 started a fire on the edge of a huge pile of drift wood which burned like tinder, and a regular 

 conflagration ensued. The flames rushed ujjward with a niipiity roar a di.stance of thirty feet, 

 and the bushes in the vicinity were shrivelled with the heat. When Andre announced sui)per I 

 could not help being reminded of the fabled mountain in labor, for a little muddy cofiee and burnt 

 flour were all his tremendous fire produced. We started again a 9 o'clock, following the west 

 shore down, and looking for the mouUi of a river which flows into the inlet from a small lake in 

 the interior of Choris Peninsula, intending to make a harbor there for the night, but owing to 

 the darkness we passed without discovering it, ami at 12 o'clock we camped ou the beach just 

 where it begins to make to the westward, having gone 33.5 miles since morning. 



August 17, 1884. — The day was spent in laying olf a base-lineon the beach two miles in length 

 for the purpose of fixing the position of the principal mouths of the river and prominent points 

 of the bay visible from this place. During the afternoon the wind, which had been light during 

 the forenoon, increased to a fresh breeze, and a heavy sea began rolling in on the beach. I feared 

 the launch would drag her stone anchor and go ashore during the night, and at 5 o'clock I took 

 Wilbur, and we started to look for the river about eight miles uj) the inlet in order to get a safe 

 place to lie. We discovered the entrance at about 6 p. m., but in attempting to run in got aground 

 on a shoal which is formed by the current and had hard work getting her off without help. We 

 finally succeeded in getting her into deep water and nia<le a tack to clear the shoal, ami then made 

 another attempt. The wind steadily increased, and we did not dare run any risks, so tliat dark- 

 ness overtook us before we could gain the refuge of the river, and we were compelled to anchor 

 under the lee of the shoal, where we lay comparatively sheltered from the sea. The wind blew so 

 strong, however, that Wilbur and I stood " watch and-watch " through the night. 



August 18, 1884. — At 4 a. m. Wilbur and 1 got the launch under way and stood back toward 

 our camp, arriving there at 8.30 a. m. After having breakfast, we broke camp and stood to the 

 westward along the shore, making but slow headway, as the wind now died away, leaving the sur- 

 face of the bay as smooth as glass. We stopped for a rest at noon, as we had been pulling at the 

 oars without ceasing since morning. After getting a cup of tea we started again, and as a light 

 northwest wind had sprung up, we stood across the bay towards the delta of the Kowak, sounding 

 constantly. At 6.30 we arrived opposite the mouth of the river which we entered in going up and 

 came to near by for supper. A boatload of Indians came up to our camp from below, and from 

 them I learned that the Corwin was expected to return to Caj)e Blossom in a day or two, as she had 

 been .seen at Chamisso Island about the IGth instant. At fl o'clock a moderate breeze sprang up 

 from the northward, and we got under way to make the most of it; shaped course west-southwest, 

 which just clears a long point projecting into the bay from the south shore, and arranged the party 

 in watches for the night. At 12 changed course to northwest by north. Distance made during 

 the day, thirty-seven miles. Average temjierature, 8,jo. 



August 19, 1884. — After 12 o'clock the weather clouded over and the wind increased to a fresh 

 breeze. At 2 a. m. rounded a point of land projecting into the bay from Choris Peninsula, and 

 shaped our course for Encampment No. 2, where we had cached some pemmican and potatoes. 

 At daybreak the wind died away entirely, and we took to our oars. Arrived at our old camp at 

 10.30, and found our cache undisturbed; but the two cans of desiccated potatoes were found upon 

 examination to be unfit for use, ami I decided not to take them. As it was dead calm on the bay, 

 I delayed here to allow all hands a chance to get a little .sleep. At 2 a. m. a light, favorable breeze 

 sprang up, and we got under way and stood toward the entrance to the inlet. At 4 a. m. we passed 

 the fifteenth mouth of the Kowak, which flows into flotham Inlet nearly opposite the entrance. 

 Toward 8 o'clock we headed in for some high bluffs forming the south side of the bay, and discov- 



