BORYA BAY. 241 



and the expediency of preferring the less inviting 

 course of rounding Cape Horn. 



Several times during the day the fog cleared away 

 for a while, and gave us grand views of the coast 

 on either hand. That of the Land of Desolation 

 especially attracted my attention. Captain Willsen 

 pointed out to me, as we stood on the bridge, to 

 which I had free access, the opening of a narrow- 

 sound which has lately been ascertained to penetrate 

 entirely through what used to be considered a single 

 island. The expressive name must, indeed, be aban- 

 doned, for, if I am not mistaken, the Land of Desola- 

 tion of our maps is already known to consist of three, 

 and may possibly form many more islands, divided 

 from each other by very narrow channels. Our 

 cautious commander resolved once again to anchor 

 for the night, and selected for the purpose Borya 

 Bay, a small sheltered cove some distance east of 

 Port Gallant, a harbour often visited by the English 

 surveying-expeditions. Daylight had departed when, 

 about half-past five, we reached our anchorage ; but 

 the sky was again quite clear, and we enjoyed the 

 weird effects of moonlight illumination. The scenery 

 is very grand, and was more wintry in aspect than 

 at any other point in our voyage. A mountain at 

 the head of the cove rose steeply to a height of at 

 least two thousand feet, and cast a dark shadow over 

 the ship as we lay very near the shore. The shores 

 were begirt with the usual belt of forest, but this did 

 not extend far, and the declivities all around were 

 clad with snow, which lay rather deep. It appeared 

 to me that a rather large glacier descended to within 



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