The point on which we landed was at the foot of a high snow-capped hill, called by us Mount Seymour; whence, had not the Indians been near, I should have taken bearings.
We sailed south-eastward, close to the south shore, until the evening; when from the summit of some hills, about three hundred feet above the sea, we had a view down the Sound, which almost convinced us it would prove to be a channel. The rock at this place differed from any we had seen in the Strait. The mountains are high, and evidently of clay-slate; but the point, near which we anchored, is a mass of hard, and very quartzose sand-stone, much resembling the old red sand-stone formation of Europe, and precisely like the rock of Goulburn Island, on the north coast of New Holland.[[51]]
The following morning (23d), we proceeded towards Mount Hope, while running down to which some squalls passed over, clouding the south shore, and as we passed Parry Harbour it bore so much the appearance of a channel, that we stood into it; but the clouds clearing away soon exposed the bottom to our view, where there seemed to be two arms or inlets. In the south-eastern arm, the shores were covered with thick ice (like the bottom of Ainsworth Harbour, to the west of Parry Harbour, where an immense glacier slopes down to the water's edge). The south-west arm appeared to be well sheltered, and if it affords a moderate depth of water, would be an excellent harbour.
After satisfying ourselves that there was no channel here, we bore up on our original course; but, before long, found ourselves within two miles of the bottom of the Sound; which is shallow, and appears to receive two rivers. The great quantity of ice water, which mingles here with the sea, changed its colour to so pale a blue, that we thought ourselves in fresh water.
Mount Hope proved to be an isolated mass of hills, lying like the rest N.W. and S.E., having low land to the southward, over which nothing was visible except one hill, thirty or forty miles distant, covered with snow, to which the rays of the sun gave the appearance of a sheet of gold. Finding ourselves embayed, we hastened out of the scrape, and, after beating for some hours, anchored in Parry Harbour.
Our entrance into a little cove in Parry Harbour disturbed a quantity of ducks, steamers, shags, and geese. Their numbers showed that Indians had not lately visited it.
Next day we reached Ainsworth Harbour, which is of the same character as Parry Harbour, and affords perfect security for small vessels: by dint of sweeping, we reached a secure anchorage in a cove at the south-east corner.
The bottom of the port is formed, as I before said, by an immense glacier, from which, during the night, large masses broke off and fell into the sea with a loud crash,[[52]] thus explaining the nocturnal noises we had often heard at Port Famine, and which at the time were thought to arise from the eruption of volcanoes. Such were also, probably, the sounds heard by the Spanish officers during their exploration of the Straits, whilst in the port of Santa Monica, where they had taken refuge from a violent gale of wind.[[53]]