TO OONALASHKA. ^GO 



September 5th. After having passed a stormy 

 night, we were, according to the ship's reckoning, 

 twenty miles from Oonalashka ; a thick fog, which 

 concealed the land, deprived us of the hope of 

 reaching the harbour to-day : it dispersed a little 

 at five o'clock in the afternoon. We now descried 

 high land at a very little distance, which I took to 

 be the N. E. point of the island of Oonalashka ; 

 but, as it immediately hid the land again, we were 

 obliged to stand out to sea, and ply, during the 

 whole night, with a faint N. E. wind, and drizzling 

 rain. 



On the Gth, at day-break, the fog dispersed, and 

 the N. E. point of the island, which now lay dis- 

 tinctly before us, was only six miles distant. The 

 navigator seldom has such a frightful and deso- 

 late prospect as this island affords, particularly 

 at its N. E. point. Black masses of lava rise per- 

 pendicularly out of the sea, to a great elevation, 

 which is covered with eternal ice. The whole 

 island seems to consist of nothing but pointed 

 mountains, lying close to each other ; some of 

 which are so high, that their tops rise above the 

 clouds. To-day the prospect was less desolate, as 

 even the highest summits were cloudless, and the 

 sun had painted their icy covers with a beautiful 

 rose-colour. At six o'clock, a faint S. E. wind 

 arose, which, being contrary, obliged us to tack 

 during the day, and the whole of the night, in the 

 vicinity of Oonalashka. 



