LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
641 
three inches in thickness. The travelling was also excessively 
bad, and required no little agility on the part of the traveller, to 
prevent him from slipping into the pools and chasms, which 
presented themselves at almost every step, and which certainly 
could not be cleared by any saltatory motion, which the captain 
might be inclined to make, or which his corpulency would 
permit him to accomplish. It was considered a wonderful feat 
of engineering skill, to get the figure of the Duke of York to 
the top of the column, which, if the English people had any 
virtue or spirit in them, they would pull down again ; and the 
individual, who attempted to get Capt. Ross up to the Cockle¬ 
shell valley, discovered that he had undertaken a job, for want 
of ropes and pullies, which threatened to be attended with as 
little success as the discovery of the great object, of which they 
had been in search. By great exertion, however, exercised, in 
pulling, pushing, and dragging, he ultimately arrived at the 
valley, and obtained some very fine specimens of the petrifac¬ 
tions. From the summit of an adjoining hill, Capt. Ross had a 
very clear view with his telescope ; and, to the northward, he 
saw a vast expanse of clear water, which determined him to 
hasten his return to the boats, and to lose no further time in the 
prosecution of his voyage. They descended by a place, called 
Boot Bight, so named on account of a fox running away with 
a boot belonging to the cook. 
The whole of the game shot during the stay of the party at 
Cascade Beach, was three hares, two of which were killed by 
Mr. Light, on the mountains, and the other was shot by Mr. 
Mc’Diarmid. There was therefore a hare to each boat, of which 
a sea pie was made, much to the gratification of the crew, who, 
for some time, had pot tasted a morsel of fresh meat. Aber- 
nethy shot some dovekies, a bird, which is very numerous in 
that part of the country, having its residence in the crevices of 
the rocks. The usual weight of the bird is about 12 oz. : they 
are far more numerous to the northward, but, owing to the long 
detention of the party at Cascade Beach, they had nearly all 
flown further to the southward. 
By the time that Capt. Ross and the steward arrived at the 
27, 4 N 
