216 SHOALNESS OF THE WATER. 



for several miles, and for some time with every ap- 

 pearance of eventually overtaking her. They could 

 count about forty men in each of these canoes. After 

 a hard pull, they succeeded in shaking off their pur- 

 suers, and got on board the Prince George in the 

 middle of the ni^ht. 



May% — Running to thenorthward, in six fathoms, 

 out of sight of land, with shoals immediately inside 

 of us. As it seemed quite impossible for the ship, 

 or even for the Prince George, to get sufficiently near 

 the coast to survey it, it was found necessary to send 

 away the boats to trace its outline, while we ran 

 along in the ship on the edge of the shoal bank. 

 The Midge, accordingly, under Mr. Pym, and Mr. 

 Harvey in the second gig, with whom Mr. Millery 

 went as a volunteer, were sent on this service. The 

 Midge had six and the second gig five days' provi- 

 sions on board, and they were altogether twelve men 

 and three officers well armed, and the Midge had a 

 small boat-gun fitted on her forecastle. The Prince 

 George was directed to keep as closely in as the depth 

 of water would allow, in order to be within signal 

 distance both of the boats and the Fly. The wea- 

 ther was now very fine, so that no difficulty was an- 

 ticipated in keeping up a communication. 



On May 3rd we were running to the northward 

 and eastward in four fathoms muddy water, and 

 sandy bottom, with no land in sight from the 

 deck, but a line of trees visible from the mast- 

 head. A little before noon the tide turned against 



