Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/313

Rh we encamped at 8 P. M. A pair of brown cranes stalked about—the undisputed lords of the isle before our arrival. Many large brown ducks flew past, and "cacawees" were moulting along the shore in great numbers. A very strong current, amounting to a rapid, ran between the south end of this island and an islet lying off it; a similar appearance was afterwards noticed near Cape Flinders.

A narrow channel having opened, we re-embarked at 4 o'clock the following morning. After advancing for two or three hours, we were again stopped by the ice, but endeavoured to force our way through it, encouraged by the appearance of some water ahead. Thrice we repeated the attempt, and as often found ourselves hemmed in, and compelled to carry both boats and cargoes to the shore, to save them from being crushed. On the summit of a cliff, one hundred and fifty feet high, I found two pieces of wood, almost rotten. They must have been left there many years ago by the natives, who seem fond of encamping on elevated spots. The ice-covered gulph, with its innumerable dark rugged islands, the clouds gloomily gathering over the crescent-shaped mainland, and long files of waterfowl passing aloft to the southward, warned by instinct of some coming change, while around flew several