M A T? E N ' S ISLE, 



The OJliaks, to this day, in their dances put on mafks, change their dreffes fre- 

 quently, and imitate the forms of beafts and birds, and often in a mariner fo 

 ilriking and fatirica],. that one is furprized to hear of fo perfed a pantomine amono- 

 fuch a favage people. But would not ignorance or fuperftition afcribe to a fuper- 

 natural metamorphofis thftfe. temporary expedients to deceive the brute creation' 

 or to afford amufement to their countrymen by thefe frolicfome mafquerades ? 

 The Americans may carry themfelves thus dreffed into the lield of battle, as the 

 Apidian hunter did, who fell by the hand of Camilla, Drefs and arms were 

 fimilar ; 



Caput ingens oris hiatus, 



Et malas texere lupi, cum dentibus albis : 



Agreftifque manus armat fparus. 



The height of the mountain on Mayerfs ifle is fo great, that it may be ^zzr\. at 

 the diftance of thirty leagues. Many parts of the coaft are from twenty to 

 thirty fathoms high. The fea at the north end is often frozen ten miles from 

 the fliore ; and on one part of the ifle are three ftupendous icebergs, or mountains 

 of ice. Off the north-eaft end are alternate calms, and fudden gufts of wind 

 like whirlwinds, which make navigators fhun the approaching it from that 

 quarter. 



The bottom of the fea round the ifle is rocky and uneven, and of very various 

 depths. There are places where there is only fix or feven fathom water, with a 

 black fand, poflibly vulcanic ; and at a fmall diflance is water of three hundred 

 fathoms. In other parts the bottom is rocky, and mofl: unfit for anchorage : a 

 few creeks, pervious by difficult and narrow inlets, are capable of affording flielter,- 

 in this horrible fpot, to a few fhallops ; but fhips muff anchor without, and then 

 with the moft fedulous circumfpeftion. 



The fhips deftined for the Greenland whale-fifhery often vifit this ifland firfl, 

 for the fake of the feals, which are here in great numbers upon the ice. They 

 are killed for the fake of the oil, which is extrafted from their blubber ; and for 

 their fkins, which, after being falted, are kept in cafljs, and ufed in England for 

 making of boots and fhoes. Our fhips leave their ports in February or Marchy 

 and arrive off the ifland m March or April, according to the time of their depar- 

 ture ; and if they arrive in the firlt month, they generally find the fea full of ice 5 

 but that depends on the winds, for certain winds force it away, and leave the 

 water clear. The fhips ufually continue in this fea till the beginning of May, 

 when they flretch away to the eafl, and apply themfdves to the whale-fifhery, m 

 about latitude 79, and even to that of 8j, 



Bontakoe 



39 



CLXI. 



CLxxvn, 



Hl 



