tS APPENDIX, NO. II.. 



ninety leagues, which will bring the ship to latitude 73*, 

 nearly at which place the whole Strait of Labrador will 

 have been passed ; that is to say, it begins at 60° and 

 ends at 75°; being two hundred and ninety leagues in 

 length, and having three turns or reaches, the first and last 

 of which run N.W. and S.E. and the centre one north 

 and south : being sometimes narrower than twenty leagues, 

 and sometimes wider than forty, and containing many 

 ports, bays and sheltering places, which might be of ser- 

 vice in cases of necessity. As far as the 73d parallel 

 the shores appear to be inhabited, for in many parts of the 

 coasts we observed smoke. 



To some persons it has seemed impossible to navigate at 

 so high an altitude of the pole ; — in answer to this it may 

 be observed, that the Hanseatics live in latitude 72^, into 

 whose harbour, namely, that of St. Michael, and in all the 

 Bay of St. Nicholas, nearly a thousand merchant ships 

 enter every year, which, in order to go to the sea of 

 Flanders, must necessarily ascend to latitude 7o°. Having 

 cleared the Strait of Labrador we began to descend from 

 that latitude, steering W.S.W. and S.W. for three hun- 

 dred and fifty leagues, till we arrived in latitude 71*^, when 

 we perceived a high coast without being able to discover 

 whether it was part of the continent or an island, but 

 we remarked that if it was the continent it must be opposite 

 to the coast of New Spain. From this land, seen at 71°, 

 we directed our course to the W.S.W. for four hundred 

 and forty leagues, until we came as low as 60°, in which 

 parallel the Strait of Anian was discovered. 



Thus the same course must be followed which I 

 made, at least as far as Friesland ; for I set sail from the 

 Baccallaos in quest of that island to procure provisions and 

 other necessaries, which we obtained from some islands 

 lying near it called Zelandillas ; they are three in number, 

 one of which only is inhabited, and the other two serve as 

 pastures for the cattle of the natives, who are rather savage, 



