TRAVELS 
114 
and thence precipitating down large mafles of ftone. Thefe in 
their fall made a terrible crafh, as they ftruck againft every thing 
that oppofed their way to the ocean. The rocks on thofe coafts 
are for the moft part compofed of granite. The North Cape it- 
felf is a mafs of granite, interfperfed with fome veins of quartz, 
lying in the direction of fouth and north. In the femicircle 
of rocks which form the Cape, is a point or prominence to¬ 
wards the weft, where we found fnow on a fpot not more-than 
two fathoms above the level of the fea; a circumftance which ap¬ 
pears, in fome meafure, to confound the French theory refpedting 
fnow at a certain height in the atmofphere, and indeed the whole 
fyftem of Mairan, BufFon, and Baillie, refpe&ing central heat. 
The only fpecies of birds that we could difeover on thofe rocks 
was one of the genus motacilla. But at a fmall diftance from the 
Cape, out at fea, the ur'ia grille , fome fpecies of Jams, and the 
alca arklica were very common; and I fucceeded in bringing 
down feveral of thofe birds. 
A gentle breeze fetting in from towards the north invited us to 
leave the Cape, and enabled us to make ufe of our fail: but we 
had fcarcely proceeded five or fix Englifh miles, when we were 
overtaken by a calm, which obliged our people to have recourfe 
to their oars. We did not return to Alten by the fame courfe, 
but vifited whatever we underftood to be in any way worthy of 
our notice on the iflands that fringe the coaft. We came firft to 
the ifle of Maafo, which is inhabited by a clergyman, a merchant, 
and thirty families befides. The merchant received us with the 
high eft 
