Wlalaspina's Measurement of St. Elias. 65 



returned to the bay where they had anchored. [*] They there observed the 

 latitude to be 59° 59^ 30^^, and six azimuths of the sun, which gave the 

 variation of the needle as 32° 49^. Before leaving that anchorage the com- 

 mander buried a bottle with record of the reconnoissance and possession 

 taken in the name of the king. They called the harbor Desangano, the 

 opening Bahia de las Bancas, and the island in the interior Haenke, in 

 memory of D. Tadeo Haenke, botanist and naturalist of the expedition. 

 On the third day they set out on their voyage to Mulgrave, where they 

 arrived on the 6th, after reconnoitering various channels and islands north 

 of that port and mapping them." 



Following the portion of the narrative above quoted, there is 

 an account of the natives, containing much information of 

 interest to ethnologists, but which it is not necessary to follow 

 in a geographic report. On July 5 the corvettes sailed west- 

 ward, and made a reconnoissance as far as Montegue island. 

 Returning eastward, they again sighted Mount St. Elias on 

 July 22. 



" On the 28th they were three leagues west of the capes which terminate 

 in Bering bay [Dry bay] ; the mountain of that name being about five 

 leagues distant from the coast and rising 5,368.3 varas [14,722 feet] above 

 the sea-level, and in latitude 59° 0'' 42^^ and longitude 2° 4^ from Port 

 Mulgrave." 



IMount Bering does not appear on any map that I have seen. 

 Which of the numerous high peaks in the vicinity of Dry bay 

 should be designated by that name remains to be determined. 



In a record of the astronomical work of Malaspina's expedi- 

 tion t there are some interesting observations on the j^osition 

 and elevation of Mount St. Elias, a translation of which, by Mr. 

 Stein, is here given : 



" True longitude of Mulgrave west of Cadiz, 133° 24^ 12^^. On the same' 

 day, the 30th of June [1792], at the observatory of Mulgrave, at 6h. 30^ in 

 the morning, the true altitude of the sun was observed to be 16° 14^ 20^^, 

 and its inclination being 23° 11^ 30^^ and the latitude 59° 34^ 20'^ the true 

 azimuth of the sun from north to east was concluded to be 71° 43^ 0^^. 

 But having measured on the same occasion with the theodolite 110° 33^ 

 from the sun's vertical to the vertical of Mount St. Elias, the difference 

 between these two quantities is the astronomic azimuth. Hence, from 



* On the coast of the mainland east of Knight island. — I. C. R. 



tMemorias sobre las- observaciones astronomicas hechas por les nave- 

 gantes Espailoles en distintos lugares del globe ; Por Don Josef Espinosa 

 y Tello. Madrid, en la Imprente real, Afio de 1809, 2 vols., large 8° ; vol. 

 i, pp. 57-60. 



