QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 21 B 



trunks of which are not simple, but fork upwards, as they are often 

 found to do in exposed situations. Little beaches of coarse clean-washed 

 gravel fill the spaces between the low shattered rock masses, which 

 spread widely between high and low water marks, with evidence of 

 the action of a heavy surf. In a cove on the north side is a strongly 

 built but abandoned Indian house. 



Huxley Island is about two miles in length, from north to south. It 

 is very bold and remarkable, rising rapidly from the beach to a height 

 probably exceeding 1000 feet. Abreast the north-west point of this 

 island, in mid-channel, a cast of the dredge in 70 fathoms was obtained, 

 the bottom being a fine sandy mud. 



Juan Perez Sound has been so named in honour of the reputed dis- Juan Perez 



1 Sound. 



coverer of the Queen Charlotte Islands, who, though he appears rather 

 to have had that honour thrust upon him than earned it by courage in 

 his exploration, probably deserves some recognition.* This opening, 

 between the north of Burnaby Island and Ramsay Island, has a width 

 of eight miles. It runs north-westward, giving off a number of smaller 

 inlets and bays, and is continued in a north-north-westward direction 

 by Darwin Sound, by which it communicates with the upper ends of 

 the long inlets which run westward from Laskeek Bay. From the 

 centre of a line joining the outer entrance points, to the southern 

 entrance of Darwin Sound, Juan Perez Sound is thirteen and a half 

 miles in length. On its south-western side are Werner Bay, Hutton 

 Inlet and Be la Beche Inlet. These terminate in narrow channels or inlets and 

 fiords, which run up among the axial mountains of Moresby Island, 

 and owing to the short time at my disposal, and comparatively unin- 

 teresting character of the rock sections, were not examined to their 

 heads. From Werner Bay two small inlets branch. Hutton Inlet 

 appeared to be about three miles long; De la Beche Inlet nearly six 

 miles, with a low valley, hemmed in by mountains on either side, 

 runni ng north-westward from its extremity. None of these openings 

 seem to be at all well adapted for harbours, as the shores are bold 

 and rocky, seldom showing beaches, and the water to all appearance 

 too deep for anchorage. The Bischoff Islands are low, but like the rest 

 of the country, densely wooded. There is a sheltered anchorage for 

 small schooners between the two larger islands, but it must be entered 

 from the westward, and with much caution, owing to the number of 

 rocks and sunken reefs which surround it. Sedgiuick Bay, about three 

 miles deep, in the south shore of Lyell Island, was merely sketched 

 from its entrance. It appears to be too much exposed for a harbour, 

 as southerly winds draw directly up Juan Perez Sound. 



* As already mentioned, Maurelle, in 1775, named the strait to the north of the islands after 

 Perez, but his name has been superseded by Dixon's. 



