After Pursuing This
Kind Of Navigation With Some Danger And More Anxiety We Landed And
Encamped On A Smooth Rocky Point Whence We Perceived With Much
Satisfaction That The Ice Consisted Only Of Detached Pieces Which Would
Be Removed By The First Breeze.
We sounded in seventeen fathoms close to
the shore this day.
The least depth ascertained by the lead since our
departure from the river was six fathoms, and any ship might pass safely
between the islands and the main. The water is of a light green colour
but not very clear and much less salt than that of the Atlantic, judging
from our recollection of its taste. In the course of the day we saw geese
and ducks with their young and two deer, and experienced very great
variations of temperature from the light breezes blowing alternately from
the ice and the land. The name of Lawford's Islands was bestowed on a
group we passed in the course of the day as a mark of my respect for
Vice-Admiral Lawford, under whose auspices I first entered the naval
service.
A fresh breeze blowing through the night had driven the ice from the land
and opened a channel of a mile in width; we therefore embarked at nine
A.M. to pursue our journey along the coast but, at the distance of nine
miles were obliged to seek shelter in Port Epworth, the wind having
become adverse and too strong to admit of our proceeding. The Tree River
of the Esquimaux which discharges its waters into this bay appears to be
narrow and much interrupted by rapids.
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