st
seen on that day, so marked in our calendar. It appeared to branch in
several arms, the largest of which turned to the northward. The S.E.
point of this Sound is a high promontory, which obtained the name of
_Cross Cape_. It lies in the latitude of 57 deg. 57', and its longitude
is 223 deg. 21'. At noon it bore S.E.; and the point under the peaked
mountain, which was called _Cape Fairweather_, N. by W. 1/4 W.,
distant thirteen leagues. Our latitude at this time was 58 deg. 17', and
our longitude 222 deg. 14'; and we were distant from the shore three or
four leagues. In this situation we found the variation of the compass
to be from 24 deg. 11' to 26 deg. 11' E.

Here the N.E. wind left us, and was succeeded by light breezes from
the N.W. which lasted for several days. I stood to the S.W. and W.S.W.
till eight o'clock the next morning, when we tacked, and stood toward
the shore. At noon, the latitude was 58 deg. 22', and the longitude 220 deg.
45'. Mount Fairweather, the peaked mountain over the Cape of the same
name, bore N. 63 deg. E.; the shore under it twelve leagues distant. This
mountain, which lies in the latitude of 58 deg. 52', and in the longitude
of 222 deg., and five leagues inland, is the highest of a chain, or rather
a ridge of mountains, that rise at the N.W. entrance of Cross Sound,
and extend to the N.W. in a parallel direction with the coast. These
mountains were wholly covered with snow, from the highest summit down
to the sea-coast; some few places excepted, where we could perceive
trees rising, as it were, out of the sea; and which, therefore, we
supposed, grew on low land, or on islands bordering upon the shore of
the continent.[5] At five in the afternoon, our latitude being
then 58 deg. 53', and our longitude 220 deg. 52', the summit of an elevated
mountain appeared above the horizon, bearing N., 26 deg. W., and, as
was afterwards found, forty leagues distant. We supposed it to be
Beering's Mount St Elias; and it stands by that name in our chart.

[Footnote 5: According to Muller, Beering fell in with the coast of
North America in latitude 58 deg. 28', and he describes its aspect thus:
"_L'aspect du pays etoit affrayaut par ses hautes montagnes couvertes
de niege._" The chain or ridge of mountains covered with snow,
mentioned here by Captain Cook, in the same latitude, exactly agrees
with what Beering met with. See Muller's _Voyages et Decouvertes de
Russes_, p. 248-254.--D.]

This day we sa