l 76{- and twenty fathom of it off, and bend it again. In about March. 0
—v— < half an hour, the Tamar, being very near the rocks, and
Friday 29. not being able to purchafe her anchor, made fignals of dif-
trefs. I was therefore obliged to Hand into the bay again,
and having anchored, I fent hawfers on board the Tamar,
and heaved her up while £he purchafed her anchor, after
which we heaved her to windward, and at noon, being got
into a proper birth, Ihe anchored again. We continued in
Saturday 30. our Ration all night, and the next morning a gale came on
at W. N. W. which was Rill more violent than any that had
preceded i t ; the water was torn up all round us, and carried
much higher than the mafls heads, a dreadful fea at the
fame time rolling in ; fo that, knowing the ground to be
foul, we were in conflant apprehenfion o f parting our cables,
in which cafe we muR have been almoR inflantly dafhedto
atoms againR the rocks that were juft to leeward of us, and
upon which the fea broke with inconceivable fury, and a
noife not lefs loud than thunder. We lowered all the main
and foreyards, let go the fmall bower, veered a cable and
an half on the beft bower, and having bent the fheet cable,
flood by the anchor all the reft of the day, and till midnight,
the fea often breaking half-way up our main fhrouds. About
Sunday 31. one in the morning, the weather became fomewhat more
moderate, but continued to be very dark, rainy, and tempef-
tuous, till midnight, when the wind fhifted to the S. W. and
foon afterwards it became comparatively calm and clear.
Monday ’.. The ne5t morninff> which was the firft of April, we had a
ftark calm, with now and then fome light airs from the
eaftward; but the weather was again thick with hard rain,
and we found a current fetting ftrongly to the eaftward. At
four o’clock we got up the lower yards, unbent the fheet
cable, and weighed the fmall bower; at eight we weighed
6 the
the beft bower, and found the cable very much rubbed M 1765.
feveral places, which we confidered as a great misfortune, . April'_
it being a fine new cable, which never had been wet before. Monda)r
At eleven, we hove ihort on the ftream anchor; but foon
after, it being calm, and a thick fog coming on with hard>
rain, we veered away the ftream cable, and with a warp to
the Tamar, heaved the fhip upon the bank again, and let go;
the fmall bower in two and twenty fathom.
At fix in the evening, we had ftrong gales at W. N. W
with violent fqualls and much rain, and continued in our
ftation till the morning of the 3d, when 1 fent the Tamar’s Wednef. 3.
boat, with an officer from each fhip, to- the weftward, in-
fearch of anchoring-places on the fouth fhore; and at "the
fame time I fent my own cutter with an officer to feek anchoring
places on the north fhore.
The cutter returned the next morning, at fixo’clock, hav- Thurfday*.
ing been about five leagues to the weftward upon, the north
fhore, and found two anchoring-places. The officer reported,,
that having been on fhore, he had fallen in with fome Indians,
who had with them a canoe o f a conftru&ion very,
different from any that they had feen in the Streigkt before;
this vellel confifted- of planks fewed together, but all the
others were nothing more than the bark o f large trees, tied
together at the ends, and kept open by fhort pieces of wood,,
which were thru ft in tranfverfely between the two lides, lik e
the boats which children make o f a bean fliell. The people,,
he faid, were the neareft to brutes in their, manner and appearance
o f any he had-feen: they were, like fome wh ich
we had met with before, quite naked, notwithftanding the
feverity o f the weather, except part o f a feal fkin which
was thrown over their fhonlders; and they eat their food,,
which was fuch as no other animal but a hog would touch,,
without