24; 



route was very clanf,'cious ; for tliiy 

 were obligeil to le.ip from one icc- 

 flakc to auotlicr, and, every time, ran 

 no siuall risque of plunging into llie 

 walor. 



On the Isl of October, they judged 

 they had arrived at the end of tlieir 

 sufferings ; hut a frightful seene open- 

 ed, tliat aJmost drove tiieni to despair: 

 t!ic vessel was in a coiidilion niueli 

 more deploralile than before. It liad 

 licen carried to a eon^iidendjle dis- 

 tanec_; every moment it was in danger 

 of being crushed by ovi-rliauging ice : 

 at last, they were fortunate enough to 

 reneli it. Scarcely were tlicy on- 

 board, when t!i?rc c.iine up fifty men 

 of the crew of tlie Hamburgh ship, 

 that had been lont on (he 30fh of Sep- 

 tember. The hari)Ooner, Milh twelve 

 sailors, were drowned, in Irving to 

 reach Iceland on floating fragments of 

 the wreck. 



As well as these unfortunate men 

 were able to judge, they were then in 

 64° N. lat. A new niisiortune threat- 

 ened them: the provisions on-board 

 the Castricum were too scanty lo suf- 

 fice for all who had rejiaind to it; they 

 Mere soon exhausted, and these desti- 

 tute mariners were obliged to feed on 

 pieces of fiesh left on the skelelons of 

 the whales. They then fell lo eating 

 tlie dogs that had been in t!)e vessels 

 that were lost. To quench their (hirst, 

 liiey drank snow-water, wherein was 

 an infusion of chips. They were now 

 looking for death lo terminate llieir 

 sntferi)igs, when the ship, that kept 

 still driving towards the coast, came 

 within the distance of five or six miles 

 from the Continent. Several sailors 

 tried, but in vain, to read) the land ; 

 they found, however, a desert island, 

 where Ihey gathered some black- 

 berries off the bushes: they were 

 obliged to remain there. 



On the loth of October, a tempest 

 arose, which threatened the ship wit h in- 

 stantdestruction: it was still preserved, 

 however, by the crew. The Jiext day, 

 enormous iee-tlakes fell on the ship, 

 so as to crush, and ir a manner over- 

 whelm, it. Tlii.s accident was so sud- 

 den, that the men on-I)oard could save 

 nothing to make a fire with; they had 

 only time to collect son-.e sails, aii<l 

 bring together eleven small boats: but 

 these precautions were useless; their 

 safety lay in flight, and in running from 

 one ice-flake to another, to find one 

 solid and large enough to hold lli-Mii 

 all. No language can describe the 



Novell its of Foreign Lileratnre. [April I, 



wretchedness of their situation. Ex- 

 posed to all the rigors of cold, on an 

 immense island of ice, which was liable 

 every in.stant (o be dashed to pieces, 

 almost entirely destitute of food and 

 clothing, they could only expect dying 

 of hunger and cold, or of being buried 

 under blocks of ice. 



It is only at the last extremity that 

 hopc! abandolis man. These sufferers, 

 unwearied in their exertions to save 

 their lives, set up two tents with the 

 sails which they had saved ; wherein 



they had shelter, patiently waiting for 

 the will of Providence: but, after the 

 l:3th of October, they were under the 

 necessity of quitting the muss, of ice 

 that supported them, as it was drifting 

 out to sea. Then 250 men set out on 

 atrial to reach the Continent; thirty- 

 six others, who reckoned it impossible, 

 remained on the ice. Those who ven- 

 tured to go, being of diHerent oj)inious 

 PS to the route to be taken, separated 

 into different companies. The Cap- 

 tains Jansz de Groot, Hans Chris- 

 tiansz, and ]\Iartin J;vnsz, accompanied 

 by forty sailors, set out on the 13th of 

 October. Each man had thirty bis- 

 cuits for his whole stock of provisions. 

 After a short, but very toilsome, 

 march, they arrived on the shore of 

 some island, where they passed the 

 night. On the following day they were 

 for trying to get at the Continent, but 

 were disappointed ; their way being 

 partly obstrTietcd by an immense 

 quagniirc,or floating marsh. To their 

 great surprise, they found some inha- 

 bitants; and it was fortunate that some 

 of (he mariners understood their Ijin- 

 guage. Assistance was implored, and 

 these savages, generally considered as 

 inhospitable, %vcre very ready to allord 

 it, removing the shipwrecked crews in 

 their canoes to their huts, and helping 

 them to some dried fish, to the flesh of 

 seals, and to some vegetables, to ap- 

 ])ense their hunger. 



They spent scvcrcil days with these 

 their benefactors ; but, fearful of en- 

 croaching on the laws of hospitality, 

 by consuming all the provisions, they 

 resolved to continue their route, in 

 hopes of finding a Danish colony, 

 where they might obtain relief ade- 

 quate to their necessities. In their 

 long and wearisome march they passed 

 through different tribes of the Green- 

 landers, with some of whom they had 

 a kind reception, but from others they 

 had ill treatm.nt; being frequently, 

 also, in danger of perishing by hunger 



aud 



