540 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP. This disappointment lost us a favourable tide, and we did not clear 
the sound before the night of the 29th. After passing Cape Espenburg, 
Aug. a strong north-west wind made it necessary to stand off shore, in doing 
which the water shoaled from thirteen to nine fathoms upon a bank 
lying off Schismareff Inlet, and again deepened to thirteen : we then 
bore away for the strait, and at eleven o’clock saw the Diomede Islands, 
thirteen leagues distant ; and about four o’clock rounded Cape Prince 
of W ales very close, in twenty-seven fathoms water. 
This celebrated promontory is the western termination of a peaked 
mountain, which, being connected with the main by low ground, at a 
distance has the appearance of being isolated. The promontory is bold, 
and remarkable by a number of ragged points and large fragments of 
rock lying upon the ridge which connects the cape with the peak. About 
a mile to the northward of the cape, some low land begins to project 
from the foot of the mountain, taking first a northerly and then a 
north-easterly direction to Schismareff Inlet. Off this point we after- 
wards found a dangerous shoal, upon which the sea broke heavily. 
The natives have a village upon the low land near the cape called 
Eidannoo, and another inland, named King-a-ghe ; and as they generally 
select the mouths of rivers for their residences, it is not improbable 
that a stream may here empty itself into the sea, which, meeting the 
current through the strait, may occasion the shoal. About fourteen 
miles inland from Eidannoo, there is a remarkable conical hill, often 
visible when the mountain-tops are covered, which, being well fixed, 
will be found useful at such times by ships passing through the strait. 
Twelve miles further inland, the country becomes mountainous, and 
is remarkable for its sharp ridges. The altitude of one of the peaks, 
which is nearly the highest on the range, is 259b feet. These moun- 
tains, being thickly covered with snow, gave the country a very wintry 
aspect. 
To the southward of Cape Prince of Wales the coast trends nearly 
due east, and assumes a totally different character to that which leads 
to Schismareff Inlet, being bounded by steep rocky cliffs, and broken 
by deep valleys, while the other is low and swampy ground. The river 
called by the natives Youp-nut must lie in one of these valleys; and 
