Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/412

382 the Ellice, the principal channel of which has two fathoms on the bar, and five within; the breadth varying from a quarter to half a mile. Then, forsaking the continent altogether, we made for Melbourne Island, which we reached next day, and coasted for above twenty miles. It presented nothing more remarkable than some hills clothed with the new-fallen snow, between which and the sandy beach stretched almost impassable quagmires. A well-trodden deerpath wound along the base of the rising grounds, but the animals themselves seemed to have already recrossed to the main land.

At sunset, on the 6th, we stood out almost due north for the nearest point of Victoria Land, named Cape Colborne, after the heroic defender of Canada: this point proved to be fully twenty miles distant. I have seldom seen anything more brilliant than the phosphoric gleaming of the waves when darkness closed in. The boats seemed to cleave a flood of molten silver; and the spray, dashed from their bows before the fresh breeze, fell back in glittering showers into the deep. It was a cold night; and, when we at last made the land, cliffs faced with everlasting ice obliged us to run on for a couple of leagues before we could take the shore with safety. This is indeed a bold coast. Frequently no