addition to thefe very unpleafant circurnfiances, on heaving in the flack
o f the cable at high water we difeovered it to be -chafed, by-its having-
rubbed againft fome rocks at the bottom. This accident, was as unexpected
as it was ungrateful to our feelings. To have quitted a ftation fo
precarious, and fo pregnant with difaders of the mod alarming nature,-
would have been a molt happy relief; yet, had we been ever fo much inclined,
we were denied this refource,- for not a breath of air had been in-
motion during the lad twenty-four hours: Had we attempted to move, we
mud have refigned ourfelves to the immediate influence- and impetuofity
o f the dream, encumbered with huge maffes of ice, through a very narrow-
and intricate channel, without being, able to leave behind us the lead
intimation-for the guidance, o f the abfent part of our lktle.community in
the boats. Our fmall bower anchor and cable were not conlidered to'be
irretrievably Iod, and syere of too much importance to be willingly abandoned.
Thus circumdanced, we had no: alternative but to remain, and
encounter as long as we might' he able fuch a ntadive body of ice, as I
believe no commander of a Greenland fhip, though fuch veffels are
drengthened and prote&ed for this efpecial purpofe,: would have at-
tempted to have refided, urilefs obliged fo to do by the mod urgent
necedity.
Towards dack water, particularly on the--reflux, we had fome fliort
intermiffions of thefe threatening dangers; in one of which, about noon
the following day, by means o f creeping we fortunately hooked the broken
cable; but the rapid return of the- ice with the flood afforded but fufficient
time to affix q,buoy to it, for the purpofe of recovering it with more facility
at the next favorable opportunity.
Jud about the time of high water we were vifited by ten Ruffians, arid'
about twice that number of Indians, in a large open rowing boat;
who with great difficulty arid much circumfpeciion- got to the fhip-
through the drift ice, which had rioW almod formed one"coörieQed field"
from fide to fide. On their arrival' the fhip. was tolerably quiet, but on
the return of the ebb we were fo incommoded by the ice, that ourvifi-
tors expreffed great concern for oür fafety. They frequently aflted if
the fhip did not make much water, and whether we were duly attentive'■
to that particular. This was perhaps fuggeded to them by their not
feeing the pumps at work, for whofe fervices very fortunately we had
little oceadon. I f I rightly underdood them, they had come with an
intention of pafling the night with us; but after remaining on board
three very unpleafant hours,;- they took the advantage of an extendve
open fpace between the fields of ice and departed.
Being ignorant of the Ruffian language, and. our minds being filled
with the greated anxiety, we were ill calculated for the reception and
entertainment. of drangers, - and confequently not likely to benedt by
their converfation, or by any information they might have been able to
have communicated. They; however very clearly gave me to underdand,
that our anchorage was not in a river, but in an arm of the lea, which
. finally clofed about fifteen verds beyond the datjon we had taken.
This intelligence appeared to correfpond with what had been feen from
the boats on the 24th, which had given us reafon to believe, that beyond
the extent of our exourfion on that day, it was fearcely navigable for
boats. W e alfo underdood, that the river Turnagain terminated not far
within its entrance, where, they had walked over a hill or mountain that
occupied the fpace of fifteen or fixteen verds, and that they had there
defeended into an arm of the fea that had comiriunication with Prince
William’s found; acrofs which ifthmus-is the route, by which they dated
that all their intercourfe between the Ruffian fettlem.ents, in this and that
extenfxve inlet, was now carried on.. One of thefe edablifhments I underdood
was about eight miles to - die fouth-ead of the ead Foreland, where
a Ruffian, two-maded veffel was then lying; .and that they had another
near the north Foreland, from whence the party had come; and a third,
on the ifiand. of St. Hermogenes. In Prince William's: found I underdood
the Ruffians had an edabliffiment .in port Etches,- and another near
Kayes idand. Throughout the whole of this,converfation., they feemed
to ufe every endeavour to imprefs us with an, idea, that-, the rAmerican
continent and adjacent idands, as far to the eadward as.the meridian of
Kayes idand, belonged exclufively to the. Ruffian empire.
Whild we were-thus annoyed by the,ice, and: kept in. a. continued
date of impatience and folicitude, the weather,, though: cold, was de-
Q 2 lightfully