156 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



the coast at a moderate offing, but what may be 

 seen ; perhaps the greatest known danger is a rock 

 lying about three leagues south, a little easterly, 

 from the S. W. point of Little AVood Bay, having 

 only eleven feet water upon it when the tide is at 

 the lowest. It is about a stone's cast over, and was 

 discovered by a fisher belonging to Delf-haven, who 

 bilged his ship upon it. 



The soundings about the island are very irregu- 

 lar, and the bottom generally consists of rocks or 

 black sand. At the distance of eleven or twelve 

 leagues S. S. E. from Cape South, are soundings in 

 thirty-five and thirty-six fathoms water ; but on the 

 northern face of the island, there are 300 fathoms 

 depth, a cannon shot from the shore. On the 

 north-eastern coast the depth is also great ; and al- 

 so near Cape South-East ; but in most other places, 

 the depth, at the distance of half a league from the 

 beach, varies from ten to fifty fathoms. Between 

 Capes North- West and North-East, between Capes 

 North-East and South-East, and in part of the dis- 

 tance between Little Wood Bay and Cape South, 

 as well as in a few portions on the west side of the 

 island, the coast consists of a kind of wall, being 

 generally precipitous and inaccessible. The west 

 side affording the greatest number of anchorages, 

 having the best convenience for landing, and being 

 better sheltered from the most frequent storms, was 

 f?elected by the Dutch for their bo'd'mg stations. 



