It was now time for us to take our leave, and as my clothes were still too wet to put on, I was obliged to have recourse again to the serjeant’s benevolence, for his leave to carry those I had borrowed of him on board. This request was complied with very cheerfully, and a sledge drawn by five dogs, with a driver, was immediately provided for each of our party. The sailors were highly delighted with this mode of conveyance; and what diverted them still more was, that the two boat-hooks had also a sledge appropriated to themselves. These sledges are so light, and their construction so well adapted to the purposes for which they are intended, that they went with great expedition and perfect safety over the ice, which it would have been impossible for us with all our caution to have passed on foot. On our return we found the boats towing the ship toward the village, and at seven we got close to the ice, and moored with the small bower to the north-east and best bower to the south-west, the entrance of the bay bearing south by east and south three quarters east, and the _ostrog_ north one quarter east, distant one mile and a half. The next morning the casks and cables were got upon the quarter-deck, in order to lighten the ship forward, and the carpenters were set to work to stop the leak, which had given us so much trouble during our last run. It was found to have been occasioned by the falling of some sheathing from the larboard-bow, and the oakum between the planks having been washed out. The warm weather we had in the middle of the day began to make the ice break away very fast, which drifting with the tide had almost filled up the entrance of the bay. Several of our gentlemen paid their visits to the serjeant, by whom they were received with great civility; and Captain Clerke sent him two bottles of rum, which he understood would be the most acceptable present he could make him, and received in return some fine fowls of the grouse kind, and twenty trouts. Our sportsmen met with but bad success; for though the bay swarmed with flocks of ducks of various kinds and Greenland pigeons, yet they were so shy that they could not come within shot of them. In the morning of the 1st of May, seeing the Discovery standing into the bay, a boat was immediately sent to her assistance, and in the afternoon she moored close by us. They told us that after the weather cleared up on the 28th, the day on which she had parted company, they found themselves to leeward of the bay, and that when they got abreast of it the following day and saw the entrance choked up with ice, they stood off after firing guns, concluding we could not be here; but finding afterward it was only loose drift-ice, they had ventured in. The next day the weather was so very unsettled, attended with heavy showers of snow, that the carpenters were not able to proceed in their work. The thermometer stood at 28° in the evening, and the frost was exceedingly severe in the night.