Mr. Fisher's Party a short Distance from this Settlement.--Next
Day left for another Settlement.--Our Men arriving in small
Companies.--Health improving.--Cross the River.--No Signs
of Water.--Settlement.--Ham.--The Wreck of a New Bedford
Ship.--When lost, and the Circumstances.--Travel to another
Settlement.--The head Man a savage Fellow.--Traveling towards
East Cape.--Seaboard Route.--Natives kind.--Begging by the
Way.--The Whale Boat.--The Broadside of a Ship.--Ship in
the Ice.--Drift Stuff.--Sun's Reflection.--Sore Eyes.--
Snow Blindness.--The Blind led with Strings.--Partial Remedy.
--East Cape reached.--Cordially received by the Natives.
The night upon which we arrived at the settlement, we learned that Mr.
Fisher was only a short distance from us, perhaps four or six miles.
Mr. F. heard also by the natives that some of his countrymen had
arrived at the settlement below.
The next day we were exceedingly sore and tired, not only indisposed to
move, but quite unable so to do. Mr. Fisher, however, having come with
several dog teams, accompanied by the natives, in order to carry us to
his settlement, persuaded us to go with him, assuring us that he found
first rate fare. We accordingly went with him.
This place was called Calushelia, a small settlement upon the seaboard
west by north from East River. We remained about twenty days in this
settlement, in company with Mr. Fisher and his party. We were now, so
far as we could judge, about seventy miles south-east of the place
where our ship was wrecked.
Since communication was now fairly open between this settlement and the
place where we spent the first part of the winter, and since it was
known that intermediate huts were scattered along in this direction,
our men began to arrive in small companies of four or five, as they
could thus be better accommodated by the way than in larger numbers.
A few weeks only had passed away before there was a very perceptible
improvement in the general health of all of us. At this time, two
thirds of our entire company had arrived. We thought it advisable, as
soon as expedient, to form another party, and proceed still farther
towards the south in the direction of East Cape.
Accordingly, the captain, with Fisher, Osborn, Blackadore, Norton, and
three others, crossed the river on the ice; the river was just south of
us. On both sides of the mouth of this river there were native huts.
Where the river discharges its waters into the sea or ocean, it is
quite wide, having the appearance of a capacious bay. The river flows
towards the north.
At this time, which was in March, we could discover no signs of water
either in the river or in the ocean. Both were strongly bound in chains
of almost perennial ice.
Having passed over this river, we found a temporary shelter and cordial
reception in another settlement. Here we remained a number of days, in
consequence of a heavy fall of snow and a severe gale of wind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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