TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 271 
land a little way to the southward of us, that is, 
between the 69th and 7Oth deg. N. as faras the 
parallel just mentioned. But as we ran down along 
this coast two years ago, at the same part of the 
season, without meeting with any ice to obstruct 
our progress ; and as the avoiding of ice is not so 
much our object as that of surveying the coast, it 
is intended, I believe, to continue our course along 
the land, running all hazards of whatever obstacles 
we may happen to meet with. Therefore, after 
parting company with the Lee, we resumed our 
former course, but keeping rather closer in with 
the land, in order to see a small party of Esqui- 
maux, which, they told us, lived near the shore on 
the north side of a bay, about twenty miles to the 
southward. In the course of the afternoon we fell 
in with another whaler, called the Friendship, of 
Hull, having seventeen fish on board. We received 
no news of any importance from her, except a repe- 
tition of what we heard from the Lee. I ought not 
omit mentioning, however, that this ship and ano- 
ther, (the Truelove, of Hull,) were, this summer, 
at the top of Baffin’s Bay, and looked into Sir 
Thomas Smith’s Sound, which they found to be 
like another of the Sounds of Baffin, a Sound with- 
out bottom. ‘They informed us also, that some of 
the whale-ships entered Lancaster’s Sound this 
summer, and, among others, the Alexander, of 
Aberdeen, one of the ships employed on the former 
voyage of discovery to these seas. 
Wednesday, 6th. — As we were standing in this 
evening towards the place where the Lee told us 
the Esquimaux lived, four canoes were observed 
