126 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
mossy grass, mixed with a dirty brown plant ; while 
on the higher land were patches of perpetual snow. 
Later in the day anchored in Betsy Cove, and re- 
mained for eight days, during which time many 
excursions inland were made for collecting speci- 
mens, botanical and zoological. One evening we 
were surprised by the arrival of an American sealing 
schooner, from the captain of which much information 
was obtained relative to this inhospitable coast. We 
sailed on the 17th, and, before clearing the land, 
encountered a strong head-wind, which speedily 
worked itself up to a heavy gale. Under sail alone 
we rolled and pitched about in the turbulent sea like 
a plaything, causing woeful destruction to furniture 
and crockery, while the masts and ropes creaked and 
groaned, producing a perfect medley of sights and 
sounds. The next day it moderated sufficiently to 
close on the land, and later we anchored in Royal 
Sound, the deepest bay on the south coast. The 
scenery was very lovely, with a labyrinth of islets 
interspersed over upwards of twenty miles of nearly 
land-locked waters, sheltered on the south by the 
Wyville Thomson range, containing a fine volcanic 
peak, 3160 feet high, rising as an enormous cone in 
the midst of a surrounding circlet of sugar-loaf peaks, 
each dwarfed only by the parent mountain ; on the 
west by Mount Tizard, and the towering snow-clad 
summit of Mount Ross, rising 6200 feet in one con- 
tinuous slope from the sea ; while on the north ex- 
