Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/154

Rh with a noise which could be heard in all directions, we had no alternative. Placing the boat's head in such an oblique direction as to make allowance for the current, we pulled toward a bight of the island, where there seemed to be smoother water. The next moment, however, the boat was whirled round, stem for stem, in such a manner as to take all power out of our hands. Then again we thought ourselves lost; but the very movement which thus terrified us really threw us into such a position that a few strong pulls sent the boat within that island cove, A DESPERATE PULL. where all was still as a summer lake. "Heaven be praised!" said I; and there was occasion for gratitude, for not ten minutes after nearly all the rocks in the course we had made were above water. Soon after getting on shore, the boat was left high and dry by the receding tide, and in another hour we could see the bottom of the bay for miles, one mass of boulder and shingle. The different islands could now be visited by walking to them dry-shod. No ship, and hardly a boat, except with much care, could venture up the side of the bay. It was only by watching, and taking advantage of the tide, that even our small boat could be navigated to the head of Frobisher Bay.