It was low water, or this would not have been possible, and
as it was, we often had considerable difficulty in making our way
between wood and water. The day was bright and clear, with a bitterly
cold wind and occasional heavy showers of rain; a fair average day
for Sandy Point. It is further west, they say, that the weather is so
hopeless. Lieutenant Byron, in his terribly interesting account of the
wreck of the 'Wager,' says that one fine day in three months is the
most that can be expected. I wonder, not without misgivings, if we
really shall encounter all the bad weather we not only read of but
hear of from every one we meet. Though very anxious to see the
celebrated Straits, I shall not be sorry when we are safely through,
and I trust that the passage may not occupy the whole of the three
weeks which Tom has been advised to allow for it.
We saw a few sea-birds, specially some 'steamer-ducks,' so called from
their peculiar mode of progression through the water. They neither
swim nor fly, but use their wings like the paddles of a steamer, with
a great noise and splutter, and go along very fast. On reaching the
plains we had an opportunity of testing the speed of our horses, which
warmed us up a little after our slow progress by the water's edge in
the bitter wind.
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