330 now WE PULL BEFORE A SWELL. 
abvout this entrance gave greater indication of the exist- 
ence of coal than any wo had yet seen, the captain de- 
termined to run in for the night at any rate, and leave 
again the next morning should we fail in discovering 
any. 
As we had no chart of this harbour, liowever, as we 
could see a huge pile of rocks off its mouth, and as there 
was a very heavy swell running in at the time, it would 
have been any thing but prudent to have risked the ship 
by entering without some previous examination ; and so 
a boat "was lowered, and I, having the \vatch below, was 
called to go in her. AVe had a fine time getting in after 
we were once started, for the light whale-boat skimmed 
over the heavy swells like a feather, sinking out of sight 
in their deep valleys, or being lifted on their rolling 
breasts, as the case might be. AVe stopped every two 
minutes to get a cast of the lead, until the w^ater began 
to shoal to ten or twelve fathoms, when we began to cast 
it as fast as it could be hauled in. 
As we thus pulled in toward the passage, the harbour 
opened beautifully, and I began to think that we were 
finding a magnificently-pi'otected anchorage on those 
inhospitable shores, when suddenly the lead gave but 
four fathoms, then three, and lastly only two, as the 
depth of water. So we immediately turned and pulled 
at right angles to our former course, when the water 
again deepened, seeming to i)romise a fair anchorage 
under the huge pile of rocks already alluded to, and 
which we now found to lie right in the centre of the 
entrance to the bay. As we j>ulled in this new direction 
and looked back at the harbour, there could not have 
