Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/28

 of the last and present age, I conceive it would be presumptuous in me to offer a single word on the subject. These clouds are white, and in shape nearly resemble an equilateral triangle, rounded at each angular point.

On the 21st of December, at five, land was discovered on our weather bow. The captain pronounced it to be the coast of Patagonia; and acting on this opinion, we kept along-shore, in order to pass between the Falkland Islands and the mainland; but, strange to tell! at noon, when he obtained a meridian observation, he discovered that what he previously conceived to be the Patagonian coast was in reality a part of the Falkland Islands. To account for this mistake, it is proper to mention, that during the preceding ten days the haziness of the weather precluded the possibility of our obtaining either a solar or lunar observation; we therefore were compelled to sail entirely by dead reckoning. To this may be added, the effect of a strong westerly current: and had the obscure weather continued but a day longer, the consequences might have proved fatal.

As the wind was fair, and we had proceeded so far, the captain abandoned his original intention, and determined to sail round the eastern