June. NORTH-EAST COAST—-SAN SEBASTIAN. 457 
Smoke was seen at but one place, about two miles inland. In 
the evening we got a breeze off shore, and stood along the 
coast, the moon shining brightly and the weather being fine. 
I kept rather close to the land, during the night, in order to be 
near the entrance of the supposed St. Sebastian Channel in 
the morning. \ 
“At midnight Cape Santa Inez was distant from us 
three or four miles, but thence we saw very little of the land, 
till three, near Cape Penas, after which the weather became 
thick, and the wind drew round to the N.E., which made 
me keep more off shore until daylight (9th), when we bore 
up and stood for the land. Having found Cape Santa Inez 
and Cape Pejfas correctly laid down on the chart we used, 
I thought Cape St.Sebastian would not be far wrong, and 
we had taken several observations during the early part of the 
night to correct our reckoning. Standing towards the shore, 
we quickly shoaled our water, and found a ground swell 
increasing. Having made what I supposed to be Cape Sebas- 
tian, and seeing from the mast-head a large opening to the 
northward of it similar to that laid down in the chart, 
with low distant land yet farther northward corresponding 
to the shores of ‘ Bahia de Nombre de Jesus,’ I stood on 
confidently, thinking how well the chart of this coast had 
been laid down, and regardless of the soundings decreasing 
as we went on. Seeing, however, from the mast-head, what 
seemed to be a tide-ripple, two or three miles distant, I called 
the boatswain, who had been much among the tide-races on 
this coast, to ask his opinion of it: but before he could get 
up aloft to me, I saw that it was very low land, almost level 
with the sea, and what I thought the ripple, was the surf on 
the beach. Standing on a little farther we had but seven 
fathoms water over a bottom of dark muddy sand, with bits of 
black slate. At this time, the weather had cleared enough to 
see the land fifteen or twenty miles on each side, but nothing 
like an opening appearing, on the contrary, a plain extending 
to the westward, as horizontal as the sea, I hauled to the wind 
and stood alongshore to the S.E., to look for an inlet, fancying 
