BOATS SENT TO CHAMPION BAY. 277 



the ship with this cheering intelligence, all was bustle 

 and activity. The blubber-room was cleared out, 

 useless casks were sent ashore, and every preparation 

 was made to calny on whaling with the utmost spirit ; 

 but alas ! for the vanity and frailty of human ex- 

 pectations, these were the sole and only representa- 

 tives of their species that we had a sight at during 

 our five weeks' sojourn amongst the Abrolhas'. 

 Things thus remained in statu quo until the 14th, 

 ■when, as we began to send up spars and make pre- 

 parations for our departure, the luminous idea struck 

 somebody of sending one or more boats over to 

 Champion Bay, to ascertain whether whales had 

 been seen on the coast, and whether the Port Gregory 

 whaling company had accomplished anything during 

 the present season. In pursuance of this resolution a 

 boat from each ship, provisioned for a week, was de- 

 spatched to the main, under the conduct of the mates 

 of the respective vessels. We started at 1 o'clock 

 P. M. with a fair wind, and at nine the same evening 

 made the main land, in the vicinity of a headland 

 known as the Wizard's Peak. In the opinion of our 

 fourth mate, who had been here previously, we were 

 too far to the northward, and, as the line of breakers 

 presented no point where we could land, in pursuance 

 of his suggestion we kept oif to the southward, and 

 continued running until midnight, when we anchored 

 in fifteen fathoms of water, and endeavored to get 

 some sleep ; one of our number standing watch all 

 through the night. At daybreak we resumed our 

 course to the southward until about 3 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, when we became convinced of the inca- 

 pacity of our pilot, and thought it advisable to retrace 

 24 



