86 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



ed through the following day. The wind then blow- 

 ing very hard at N, N. E., they put in among 

 some islands, in latitude 72° 45', from which the in- 

 habitants fled on their approach, leaving only a few 

 women behind, who hid themselves among the 

 rocks. From this circumstance, the group was cal- 

 led TVomcri's Islands, The wind being moderate, 

 though still contrary, they sailed on the 4th and 

 plyed to the northward, in a channel seven or eight 

 leagues wide, between the ice and the land. Being 

 much pestered with ice on the 9th, they anchored 

 near three small islands, lying eight miles from the 

 main, in latitude 74° 4'. The flood-tide here was 

 very weak, but the ebb ran with a considerable 

 stream, which Baffin attributed to the melting of 

 the snow on the land. From hence they attempt- 

 ed to get to the northward and north-westward ; 

 but finding the ice impervious, though in a rapid 

 state of dissolution, they pUtin among some islands in 

 latitude 73° 45', until there should be more room. 

 Here they were visited by the natives to the amount 

 of forty-two persons, who bartered skins and pieces 

 of the tusks of sea-horses, and what are usually cal- 

 led unicorn's-horns, for beads, iron, and such like ; 

 from which the anchorage was named S^orTz Sound. 

 On the 18th they put to sea, and found the ice 

 astonishingly dispersed, having stood to the west- 

 ward nearly twenty leagues, and to the northward, 

 as far as latitude 74° 30', before they met with any 



