This Evening
A Shooting Party Of The Officers Went Over To The North Side Of The Bay,
Having With Them The Small Cutter To Convey Them From Place To Place.
Next morning, accompanied by Mr Forster, I went in the pinnace to survey
the isles and rocks which lie in the mouth of the bay.
I began first with
those which lie on the S.E. side of Anchor Isle. I found here a very snug
cove sheltered from all winds, which we called Luncheon Cove, because here
we dined on cray fish, on the side of a pleasant brook, shaded by the trees
from both wind and sun. After dinner we proceeded, by rowing, out to the
outermost isles, where we saw many seals, fourteen of which we killed and
brought away with us; and might have got many more, if the surf had
permitted us to land with safety on all the rocks. The next morning, I went
out again to continue the survey, accompanied by Mr Forster. I intended to
have landed again on the Seal Isles; but there ran such a high sea that I
could not come near them. With some difficulty we rowed out to sea, and
round the S.W. point of Anchor Isle. It happened very fortunately that
chance directed me to take this course, in which we found the sportsmen's
boat adrift, and laid hold of her the very moment she would have been
dashed against the rocks. I was not long at a loss to guess how she came
there, nor was I under any apprehensions for the gentlemen that had been in
her; and after refreshing ourselves with such as we had to eat and drink,
and securing the boat in a small creek, we proceeded to the place where we
supposed them to be. This we reached about seven or eight o'clock in the
evening, and found them upon a small isle in Goose Cove, where, as it was
low water, we could not come with our boat until the return of the tide. As
this did not happen till three o'clock in the morning, we landed on a naked
beach, not knowing where to find a better place, and, after some time,
having got a fire and broiled some fish, we made a hearty supper, having
for sauce a good appetite. This done, we lay down to sleep, having a stony
beach for a bed, and the canopy of heaven for a covering. At length the
tide permitted us to take off the sportsmen; and with them we embarked, and
proceeded for the place where we had left their boat, which, we soon
reached, having a fresh breeze of wind in our favour, attended with rain.
When we came to the creek which was on the N.W. side of Anchor Isle, we
found there an immense number of blue peterels, some on the wing, others in
the woods in holes in the ground, under the roots of trees and in the
crevices of rocks, where there was no getting them, and where we supposed
their young were deposited.
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