17^ FROM UADACK TO 



Straits was blasted, as I could not expect that it 

 would be cleared of ice for fourteen days. 



Kadu was here made acquainted with a new 

 people, but whom he could not be persuaded to 

 think human heings on account of their fur-cloth- 

 ing. He made me observe the knives in their 

 sleeves, and therefore always had his clasp-knife at 

 hand to avert every danger from me. 



The inconvenient anchorage in which the 

 Rurick lay, did not permit us to remain long on 

 shore. We hastened on board, spread the sails, 

 and steered to the northern point of the island. 

 The small island laid down on Cook*s chart as a 

 single one, consists, as we perceived in sailing by, 

 of two, separated by a narrow channel. At twelve 

 o*clock at night, when we were about to anchor at 

 the northern promontory, we perceived, to our 

 terror, firm ice, which extended as far as the eye 

 could see to N. E., and then to the N., covering 

 the whole surface of the ocean. My melancholy 

 situation, which had daily grown worse since we 

 had left Oonalashka, received here the last blow. 

 The cold air so affected my lungs, that I lost my 

 breath, and at last spasms in the chest, faintings, 

 and spitting of blood ensued. I now for the first 

 time perceived that my situation was worse than 

 I would hitherto believe ; and the physician se- 

 riously declared to me that I could not remain near 

 the ice. It cost me a long and severe contest; 

 more than once I resolved to brave death, and 



