88 FROM RADACK TO 



CHAP. XII. 



From radack to the st. Lawrence islands. 



Ihe 7th, at day-break, we w^eighed anchor to 

 leave the beloved Otdia, where we had passed 

 so many happy days among the uncorrupted 

 children of nature. The sails were spread, the 

 weather serene, the wind favourable, and the 

 friendly islanders, who were assembled on the 

 shore, cried to us their last adieu. I now took 

 my course to Schischmareff Strait : we were not 

 endangered by any banks, of which we only 

 saw two at some distance. A canoe followed us 

 from the island of Ormed. At eight o'clock we 

 reached Schischmareff' Strait, which is in every 

 respect preferable to Rurick's Strait, as it is much 

 broader, and permits the mariner to sail in and 

 out, with the usual monsoon, without even being 

 obliged to tack ; Rurick Strait, likewise, is not so 

 easily found, as nothing is seen there but a con- 

 tinued reef, which is always alike : here, on the con- 

 trary, the passage between the two islands is to be 

 seen, even at a distance. In the middle of the 

 strait, the sailor at the mast-head cried out. 

 Land ! In S. by W. we saw two small islands j the 

 group of Eregup was there also visible. 



I immediately took some altitudes of the sun. 



