He found a village, consisting of a few huts, formed of seal-skins, and sufficient for the residence of about fifty persons. Being desirous of obtaining from these persons a sledge and dogs, in exchange for a rifle-musket, he conducted seven of them, in their canoes, to the ship. As soon as the bargain was made, they went on shore, and returned, with the sledge and dogs, in a larger canoe, rowed by five women in a standing posture, and all dressed in deer-skins. These people were highly pleased with the treatment they received; and, having partaken of some refreshment in the cabin, they danced on the deck with the sailors, to the animating strains of a Shetland fiddler. Two of the women were daughters of a Danish resident, by an Esquimaux woman: one of the men was the son of a Dane; and they were all of the colour of Mulattoes. After the dance, coffee was served; and, at eight o'clock, the party returned to land. The progress of the vessels had hitherto been much impeded by the state of the ice. This, however, now began to separate, and they once more proceeded on their voyage; passing among hundreds of icebergs, of extraordinary colours, and the most fantastical shapes. In latitude 74 degrees 30 minutes, the Isabella was jammed in by the ice, and sustained a severe pressure; being lifted several feet out of the water, but she did not receive any material injury. On the 31st of July, whales were seen in great numbers; and, the boats being sent in pursuit of them, one was killed: it measured forty-six feet in length, and yielded thirteen tons of blubber. On the 6th and 7th of August, the two ships were again in great danger from the ice. Whilst they were in the midst of the icebergs, they were driven, by a gale of wind, so forcibly against each other, that their sterns came violently in contact, and crushed to pieces a boat that could not be removed in time; and, had not the vessels themselves been excessively strong, they must have been totally destroyed. Attempts were made to liberate them by sawing through the ice: not long after the commencement of the operation, two immense masses of ice came violently in contact, and one of them, fifty feet in height, suddenly broke. Its elevated part fell back with a terrible crash; and overwhelmed, with its ruins, the very spot which the officers had marked out as a place of safety for the ships. Soon afterwards the ice opened, and they were once more out of danger.