142 WINTER—ADELAIDE SAILS. May 1828. 
nated with finer weather than we had experienced for some 
weeks, but May set in with north-easterly winds and much 
rain, succeeded by a heavy fall of: snow. 
“ Tristis hyems montes niveo velamine vestit.” 
As yet the thermometer had not been very low. On one or 
two occasions it had fallen during the night to 28°, but gene- 
rally it ranged between 45° and 38°. 
The Adelaide was again despatched on the 30th April, to 
carry on an examination of the openings on each side of Caye- 
tano Island; but she returned on the 21st of May, with the 
disagreeable intelligence of having had her only serviceable 
boat stolen by the Indians. This was a serious loss, not only 
on account of so much time being thrown away, but also 
because we had no other boat to substitute for her. To pre- 
vent delay, I sent to Mr. Low, at Bougainville Harbour, 
requesting that he would sell one of his boats; but he was 
himself so badly off, from similar losses, that he could only 
assist us by lending one for a few weeks, and as it was the only 
boat he possessed, it could not be spared to go far from his 
vessel. I, therefore, despatched Mr. Graves, in the Adelaide, to 
Bougainville Harbour, to employ himself in examining the 
coast thence to Cape Froward, and in the mean time began to 
build a whale-boat, to be ready for the Adelaide’s use as soon 
as winter had passed over; for, from Mr. Graves’s report of 
the state of the climate to the westward, very little could be 
done during the winter months. 
The following is Lieut. Graves’s account of the loss of his 
boat :—Upon leaving Port Famine he proceeded at once to 
Port Gallant, and surveyed Cordes Bay; after which he 
crossed the Strait to St. Simon’s Bay, and anchored in Millar 
Cove, on its western side, immediately to the north of Port 
Langara, from which it is only separated by a narrow neck of 
land. The Adelaide remained there at anchor while Mr. Graves 
visited the different parts of the bay. Her presence had 
attracted a large party of Indians, who, occupying several 
wigwams near the entrance of the cove, paid daily visits to 
