1704.
Julv.
Mititliy 25
ground until the 6ih; when, after fome hours calm, wc were favored in J the morning with a gentle breeze from the n.w., and a return of plea- fant Kcoiher. We had now an extenfive view of the fea eoad, flretch- ing l)y eomjiafs from s. 77 v. to n.86f.., within which limits mount St. Elias and mount Fairweather rofe magnificently confpicuous, from the ftill-continued range of lofry fnowy mountains. This favorable gale foon enaliled us to recover the ground we had loft, and by noon we reached the latitude of 59° 3', longitude 22i°4i', and the variation in the afternoon was 31° 26' eaftwardly. In this fituation mount St. Elias, being the wefternmoft land in fight, bore by compafs n. 73 w.; mount Fairweather was at this time obfcured by clouds; the neareft fhore, which was near a narrow Hiallow opening into a lagoon, e.n.e. diflant feven miles: and the eafternmoft land in fight s. 85 e. The part of the coaft off which we had been thus cruifing fince the preceding ihurfday, aj)peared from its latitude, and relative fituation with thefe two very confpicuous mountains, to be that part where Captain Cook fuppo- fid that Beering had anchored, and to which he gave the name of Beering, fuppofing it to be a bay, with an ifland covered with wood lying off its fouthern point. But in this neighbourhood no fuch bay or idand exifts, and Captain Cook muff have been led into the mif- take by the great diftance at which he faw this coaft; in confequence of which he was prevented noticing the extenfive border of low land that ftretches from the foot of the vaft range of lofty mountains, and forms the fea (liore. Ihe irregularity of the bafe of thefe mountains, which retire in fome places to a confiderable diftance, and efpecially in the part now alluded to, would, on a more remote view than we had taken, lead the moft cautious obferver to confider the appearances in the coaft, as indicating deep bays, or openings likely to afford tolerable, and even good (belter; and had it not been for the information we had previoufly re- ceicd from Mr. Brown, who had been clofe in with thefe fhores, we fliould have ftill fuppofed, until thus far advanced, that we had Becring's bay in view, with the iftand lying near its fouth-eaflcrn point. 'J1iis de- ception is occafioned by a ramification of the mountains ftietching to- wards the ocean, and terminating in a perpendicular cliff, as if at the fea
