SADDLEBACK. 35 



weigh, passing between large pieces of ice with- 

 out inconvenience. The same thing continu- 

 ing the next day we found ourselves at noon, by 

 the observations, abreast of the middle Savage 

 Islands, and could see the extremes of land 

 from S. E. to N. N. E., the nearest being six or 

 seven miles distant. It was not, however, till 

 some hours had elapsed, that the remarkable 

 land called Saddle-back could be made out. At 

 this place, every vessel having occasion to visit 

 the straits has invariably fallen in with Esqui- 

 maux ; but, although we stood within a few 

 miles of the shore, none appeared, nor did we per- 

 ceive any trace of them, from whence I inferred 

 they had already made their annual barter with 

 the Hudson's Bay ships, and were gone into the 

 interior to hunt. About three in the afternoon 

 an iceberg, about forty feet high, and of very pic- 

 turesque form, suddenly, at the distance of about 

 a quarter of a mile from the ship, either toppled 

 over, or parted with a large mass detached from 

 its summit. The splash in the water, the 

 foam which succeeded, and the fearful rockings 

 of the berg before it again settled upon its base, 

 gave us some notion of the danger of a too close 

 neighbourhood on such occasions. The breeze 

 was lost as night drew on, and the usual calm 

 succeeded; but at ll h p.m. a light air crept 

 along the water from the south, and having 



d 2 



