The land bordering upon the sea-coast is of a middling height and level; but within the Sound it rises almost every where into steep hills, which agree in their general formation, ending in round or blunted tops, with some sharp, though not very prominent, ridges on their sides. Some of these hills may be reckoned high, while others of them are of a very moderate height; but even the highest are entirely covered to their tops with the thickest woods, as well as every flat part toward the sea. There are sometimes spots upon the sides of some of the hills which are bare; but they are few in comparison of the whole, though they sufficiently point out the general rocky disposition of these hills. Properly speaking, they have no soil upon them, except a kind of compost, produced from rotten mosses and trees, of the depth of two feet or more. Their foundations are, therefore, to be considered as nothing more than stupendous rocks, of a whitish or grey cast, where they have been exposed to the weather; but, when broken, they appeared to be of a blueish-grey colour, like that universal sort which were found at Kerguelen’s Land. The rocky shores are a continued mass of this; and the little coves in the Sound have breaches composed of fragments of it, with a few other pebbles. All these coves are furnished with a great quantity of fallen wood lying in them, which is carried in by the tide; and with rills of fresh water, sufficient for the use of a ship, which seem to be supplied entirely from the rains and fogs that hover about the tops of the hills. For few springs can be expected in so rocky a country, and the fresh water found farther up the Sound most probably arose from the melting of the snow; there being no room to suspect that any large river falls into the Sound, either from strangers coming down it, or from any other circumstance. The water of these rills is perfectly clear, and dissolves soap easily. The weather, during our stay, corresponded pretty nearly with that which we had experienced off the coast. That is, when the wind was any where between north and west, the weather was fine and clear; but if to the southward of west, hazy with rain. The climate, as far as we had any experience of it, is infinitely milder than that on the east coast of America, under the same parallel of latitude. The mercury in the thermometer never, even in the night, fell lower than 42°; and very often, in the day, it rose to 60°. No such thing as frost was perceived in any of the low ground; on the contrary, vegetation had made a considerable progress; for I met with grass that was already above a foot long.