162 " PASSAGE ACROSS THE LAKE. 
casks, and stood on, without for a moment altering our 
course. 
It is difficult to give a just description of our passage 
across the lake. The boisterous weather we had had seem- 
ed to have blown over. A cool and refreshing breeze was 
carrying us on at between four and five knots an hour, and 
the heavens above us were without a cloud. It almost ap- 
peared as if nature had resisted us in order to try our perse- 
verance, and that she had yielded in pity to our efforts. 
The men, relieved for a time from the oar, stretched them- 
selves at their length in the boat, and commented on the 
scenery around them, or ventured their opinions as to that 
which was before them. Up to this moment their conduct 
had been most exemplary ; not a murmur had escaped from 
them, and they filled the water-casks with the utmost cheer- 
fulness, even whilst tasting the disagreeable beverage they 
would most probably have to subsist on for the next three 
or four days. 
As soon as we had well opened the point, we had a full 
view of the splendid bay that, commencing at the western- 
most of the central points, swept in a beautiful curve under 
the ranges. No land was visible to the W.N.W. or to the 
S.S.W. : in both these quarters the lake was as open as the 
ocean. It appeared, therefore, that the land intermediate 
was an island. To the north the country was extremely 
low, and as we increased our distance from it we lost sight 
of it altogether. At noon we were nearly abreast of the 
eastern head— land, or in the centre of the strait to which I 
