ficient depth of water for
a ship of burden to float: The entrance of the bay also was rocky, and
within it the ground was foul.

In this place we saw an animal that resembled an ass, but it had a
cloven hoof, as we discovered afterwards by tracking it, and was as
swift as a deer. This was the first animal we had seen in the streight,
except at the entrance, where we found the guanicoes that we would fain
have trafficked for with the Indians. We shot at this creature, but we
could not hit it; probably it is altogether unknown to the naturalists
of Europe.

The country about this place has the most dreary and forlorn appearance
that can be imagined; the mountains on each side the streight are of an
immense height: About one-fourth of the ascent is covered with trees of
a considerable size; in the space from thence to the middle of the
mountain there is nothing but withered shrubs; above these are patches
of snow, and fragments of broken rock; and the summit is altogether rude
and naked, towering above the clouds in vast crags that are piled upon
each other, and look like the ruins of nature devoted to everlasting
sterility and desolation.

We went over in two boats to the Royal Islands, and sounded, but found
no bottom: A very rapid tide set through wherever there was an opening;
and they cannot be approached by shipping without the most imminent
danger. Whoever navigates this part of the streight, should keep the
north shore close on board all the way, and not venture more than a mile
from it till the Royal islands are passed. The current sets easterly
through the whole four-and-twenty hours, and the indraught should by
all means be avoided. The latitude of Cape Gallant road is 53 deg. 50'S.

We continued in this station, taking in wood and water, and gathering
mussels and herbs, till the morning of the 27th, when, a boat that had
been sent to try the current, returned with an account that it set
nearly at the rate of two miles an hour, but that, the wind being
northerly, we might probably get round to Elizabeth Bay or York Road
before night; we therefore weighed with all expedition. At noon on the
28th, the west point of Cape Gallant bore W.N.W. distant half a mile,
and the white patch on Charles' Island S.E. by S. We had fresh gales and
heavy flaws off the land; and at two o'clock the west point of Cape
Gallant bore E. distant three leagues, and York Point W.N.W. distant
five leagues. At five, we opened York Road,