HORACE PEAKS — BOAT LOST. 



391 



" Feb. 2d. Still very squally and unsettled. This gale began 

 at N.N.W., and drew round to S.S.W. Much rain comes 

 usually from the N. W. quarter ; and as the wind draws south- 

 ward, the weather becomes clearer. The squalls from the 

 southern quarter bring a great deal of hail with them. 



" 3d. I was enabled to take a round of angles from Horace 

 Peaks, over the ship, the sky being clear near the horizon. The 

 theodolite had been left near the top since the 28th, each day 

 having been too bad to use it. These peaked hills required time 

 and exertion in the ascent ; but the wide range of view obtained 

 from their summits on a clear day, amply repaid us for both. 

 If the height was sufficient, it gave a bird's-eye view of many 

 leagues, and showed at a glance where channels lay, which 

 were islands, and what was the nature of the surrounding land 

 and water. The shattered state of all these peaks is remarkable : 

 frost, I think, must be the chief cause. 



" After being deceived by the magnetism of Mount Skyring 

 and other places, I never trusted the compass on a height, but 

 always set up a mark near the water, at some distance, and 

 from it obtained the astronomical bearing of my station at the 

 summit. This afternoon we prepared the ship to proceed as soon 

 as the master should arrive. 



" 4th. Moderate v/eather. I was surprised that the master 

 did not make his appearance ; yet, having full confidence in 

 his prudent management, and knowing that he had been all 

 the time among islands, upon any one of which he could 

 haul up his boat and remain in safety during the gales, I did 

 not feel much anxiety, but supposed he was staying to take 

 the necessary angles and observations, in which he had been 

 delayed by the very bad weather we had lately experienced. 



" At three this morning (5th), I was called up to hear that 

 the whale-boat was lost — stolen by the natives ; and that her 

 coxswain and two men had just reached the ship in a clumsy 

 canoe, made like a large basket, of wicker-work covered with 

 pieces of canvas, and lined with clay, very leaky, and difficult 

 to paddle. They had been sent by the master, who, with the 

 other people, was at the cove under Cape Desolation, where 



