41£ SEARCH FOR FUEL. 



few masses aside, and making a zigzag course, 

 we managed to advance a mile ; when, being 

 again stopped, another effort was made, by 

 causing the people to wade and lift the boat over 

 the shoals, which was successful enough, until, 

 the water being little more than ancle-deep, 

 necessity compelled us to encamp. Other nar- 

 row lanes were sounded for a channel, but with 

 no serviceable result; and the temperature of the 

 water being only 37°, with a north-west breeze 

 blowing, and ice to the very beach, it cannot be 

 a matter of astonishment, and much less of blame, 

 that even the best men, benumbed in their limbs, 

 and dispirited by the dreary and unpromising 

 prospect before them, broke out for a moment 

 into low murmurings that theirs was a hard and 

 painful duty. The boat was scarcely hauled up, 

 when the fog grew so thick that nothing could 

 be seen beyond a hundred yards : three of the 

 people, however, went to look for .fuel, and the 

 remainder assembled in the tent to hear divine 

 service. 



The place where we encamped, and, indeed, 

 every foot of this sandy soil was covered with 

 small shells resembling cockles and bivalves. 

 Innumerable rills of fresh water ran in opposite 

 directions from the central ridge. About 8 p. m. 

 the rain began to fall again, though without at 

 all clearing the fog, and the wind from north- 



