but found it impossible to penetrate through the thickets, by which it was environed.
Night coming on, we returned in search of a convenient place to pass the night near a rivulet, which we had crossed. A thick bush was the best shelter we could find; and this we increased by the addition of branches from others, so that we expected to have been perfectly secure against any inconvenience from the wind. But the gale from the south-west blew so strong during the night, that the rain penetrated our covering on all sides; and to heighten our distress, the cold was very piercing, which drove most of us near the fire, though there we were still more exposed to the wet, than in our sort of hut.
28th. As soon as day broke, we quitted our uncomfortable lodging, and crossed the downs, that surrounded us. In some places, where the sand appeared lately to have fallen down, I observed, that these sand hills appeared to rest partly on a very hard steatite, of a dark grey colour, partly on sandstone. Presently after I observed from the borders of the shore a very large rock, standing in the sea, and not far from the land, which exhibited on all sides the same species of steatite. This rock, which is very high, is pierced at one of its extremities.
The waves had separated from the bottom of
