Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the GlobeBingley, William
History
Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the Globe
Bingley, William
Canada -- Description and travel; Mexico -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
In the evening of the 12th of June, the weather being clear and serene,
the sky and the water presented one of the most beautiful scenes that
can be imagined. The former, near the horizon, was interspersed with
light and fleecy clouds, which decreased gradually in colour and
density, according to their height; until, in the zenith, they
disappeared entirely, and there the sky assumed a rich cerulean blue.
The water, on the other hand, presented a spectacle superbly grand. Let
any one fancy himself (says Captain Ross) in the midst of an immense
plain, extending further than the eye can penetrate, and filled with
masses of ice, which present a greater variety of form than the most
fertile imagination can conceive; and as various in size as in shape,
from the minutest fragments, to stupendous islands, more than one
hundred feet in perpendicular height above the surface of the ocean.
In the afternoon of the 14th of June, being near the Danish settlement,
on _Kron Prins Island_, in latitude 63 degrees, 54 minutes, the governor
of the settlement came on board the Isabella. This person stated that
the weather of the preceding winter had been unusually severe; and that,
during his residence of eleven years, in Greenland, the intensity of the
cold had gradually continued to increase. The whole population of the
island consisted of himself and family, six Danes, and one hundred
Esquimaux, whose occupation consisted chiefly in the capture of whales
and seals.
The vessels proceeded northward, along the edge of the ice, through a
crooked and narrow channel, in the midst of a firm field of ice, and a
tremendous ridge of icebergs.
At _Wayat's_ or _Hare Island_, the astronomical instruments were landed,
and some important errors, both of latitude and longitude, were
discovered and corrected. Thirty or forty whale-ships were seen fastened
to the icebergs along the shore of this island. The only four-footed
animals observed on it were white hares and a fox: the birds were
ptarmigans, snipes, snow-buntings, and larks.
Beyond Wayat's Island the ships were surrounded by ice of various and
extensive forms; and much skill, ardour, and perseverance, were
manifested by the navigators working through the narrow channels and
floes. On the 23d, and at the distance of ten miles north of Wayat, they
reached _Four Island Point_, where they found several whalers which had
been stopped by the ice.
A sort of Danish factory was established at this spot, and some Indian
huts were seen; but they were in ruins and apparently deserted. Captain
Ross sent to the shore one of his crew, an Esquimaux, named John
Sacheuse. This man, who had been resident nearly two years in England,
and had acquired some knowledge of the English language, had been taken
on board the Isabella as an interpreter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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