128 
THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. 
with fearful warning. We could scarcely see the land, 
which is here very low and covered with underwood, the 
sand of the beach being of alight colour; these, together 
with the extreme darkness and gloom of the morning, 
prevented our observing it till the sudden decrease of the 
soundings set sharper eyes to work than those of the 
drowsy look-out men. 
It was indeed a providential escape, vve had crossed 
a part of the bay where the line of one hundred fathoms, 
after running along shore at a distance of five miles, 
suddenly turns shar]3 in towards the shore, and then 
out again like a loop, having within it no soundings 
at a depth of one hundred fathoms, until half a mile 
from the shore. It is called the Bottomless Pit, If 
we had been set-in towards this a little sooner, we 
must inevitably have been lost, as we could not have 
