182
A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
1773.
May.
ed at eight in the evening. The shores on both sides of the passage were steeper than any we had seen before, and formed various wild landscapes, ornamented with numerous little cascades, and many dragon-trees (dracæna.)
Thursday 6.The captain being confined to the cabin by his rheumatism, sent an officer, accompanied by my father and myself, to explore the southernmost arm, which ran up eastward from our new passage into the interior country. During our absence he ordered the Resolution to be well cleaned and aired with fires between decks, a precaution which ought never to be neglected in a moist and raw climate.
We rowed up this new inlet, were delighted with many cascades on both sides of it, and found a number of good anchoring places, with plenty of fish and wild-fowl. However, the woods consisted chiefly of shrubberies, and began to look very bare, the leaves being mostly shed, and what remained looking faded of a pale yellow colour. These strong marks of approaching winter seemed to be peculiar to this part of the bay, and it is probable that the adjacent high mountains, all which were now crowned with snow, caused their premature appearance. We put into a little cove about two o'clock to broil a few fishes for our dinner, and then went on till it was dark, taking up our night's quarters on a little beach, almost at the head of the inlet. Here we made a fire, but slept verylittle