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 N. and W., the weather was fine and clear; but if to the southward of W., 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 deg., and very often, in the day, it rose to 60 deg..  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.

The trees which chiefly compose the woods, are the Canadian pine, white cypress, cypressus thyoides, the wild pine, with two or three other sorts of pine less common.  The two first make up almost two-thirds of the whole; and, at a distance, might be mistaken for the same tree, as they both run up into pointed spire-like tops, but they are easily distinguished on coming nearer from their colour, the cypress being of a much paler green, or shade, than the other.  The trees, in general, grow with great vigour, and are all of a large size.

There is but little variety of other vegetable productions, though, doubtless, several had not yet sprung up at the early season when we visited the place, and many more might be hid from the narrow sphere of our researches.  About the rocks, and verge of the woods, we found strawberry-plants, some raspberry, currant, and gooseberry bushes, which were all in a most flourishing state, with a few small black alder-trees.  There are, likewise, a species of sow-thistle, goose-grass, some crow’s-foot, which has a very fine crimson flower, and two sorts of anthericum, one with a large orange flower, and the other with a blue one.  We also found, in these situations, some wild rose-bushes, which were just budding, a great quantity of young leeks, with, triangular leaves, a small sort of grass, and some water-cresses, which grow about the sides of the rills, besides great abundance of andromeda.  Within the woods, besides two sorts of underwood shrubs unknown to us, are mosses and ferns.  Of the first of which, are seven or eight different sorts, of the last, not above three or four, and the species of both, are mostly such as are common to Europe and America.

As the season of the year was unfavourable to our gaining much knowledge of the vegetable productions of this country, so our own situation while there, put it out of our power to learn much about its animals.  For as the want of water made it necessary that we should enter the Sound at first, unforeseen accidents which happened afterward, though they lengthened our stay, were rather unfavourable to our obtaining any knowledge of this kind.  The emergency of the case required, that every person should be constantly