This island was once, in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau, called _Mauritius Island_ in _Greenland_, to distinguish it from Mauritius island on the N. W. point of Spitzbergen. It stretches from N. E. to S. W. The north end rises into a high mountain called Beerenberg, from its being haunted by bears; though its steepness renders it inaccessible to man. A hundred yards from the shore the water is about sixty fathoms deep: but a little farther out no soundings have been found. The seas neighbouring to this island were formerly much frequented by whale fishers, (especially from 1611 to 1633,) but the whales are now seldom found here, having withdrawn to the ice, where they enjoy more security. The bears, sea-horses, and other voracious marine animals, together with the foxes and carnivorous birds, not finding so good a supply of whale carrion, as usual, have also, in a great measure, deserted the coast. On the land are still seen some vestiges of those temporary buildings where the fishers of that time boiled their blubber. But this practice of boiling blubber in the North has long since been discontinued, and is now performed on the return of the vessels to their respective ports. In 1633, seven sailors were left in Jan Mayen Island to winter; but on the 7th of June following they were all found dead, (chiefly of the scurvy,) by some people from Holland, who arrived there. It was evident that they had lived through the winter, as their journal was carried down to the 30th of April, soon after which they must have fallen victims to disease. It is necessary to observe, that the Dutch at this period entertained hopes of being able to found some permanent establishments in the North, and that for this purpose men were sometimes left in these islands, to make observations during the winter. The wretched fate that generally attended these adventurers, at last induced the States-General totally to relinquish the attempt. Here we fell in with some _streams_ of ice, which we went through in search of seals; but of these we saw very few, and got none. Spoke a brig from Bergen. 15th, One sail in sight. On the 16th we were encountered by a violent storm from the north; and after running, as near as we could calculate, about fifty leagues in a south-westerly direction, we were met by a great number of birds; this clearly showed us to be at no great distance from land, and had we continued under the same course, we perhaps would soon have fallen in with Iceland; here however, we lay-to under close reefed top-sails, till the weather moderated, and on the 17th we sailed in a north-east direction. The weather at this time was so hazy that we could not take an observation; and after a gale, and lying-to, not much reliance can be placed on the reckoning by account.