LOSS OF AN ENGLISH SLOOP. 129 
half burned and the remaining part in the sand. This object 
afforded us fresh hopes, and we doubled our efforts to climb 
the hill. Having arrived at the summit, how great was our 
satisfaction to perceive some buildings on the other side of it, 
at the distance of a mile at farthest. Notwithstanding our fa- 
tigue, the interval which separated us from them was soon 
gone over. We arrived palpitating with hope and joy, but 
those pleasing emotions were instantly dissipated. In vain 
we traversed all the buildings ; they were deserted. They 
had been erected for the preparation of cod, and, according 
to all appearance, had been abandoned several years before. 
The sad termination of this excursion tended, however, to con- 
firm us in the idea that we should find some habitations by 
continuing our course round the island. 
The wind, which had again shifted to the northwest, de- 
tained us the next day, fearing to encounter the ice, which it 
drifted in great quantities. For three days it continued with 
the same fury. Having awaked in the night, I was astonished 
to hear its shrill whistling, not accompanied, as usual, by the 
hoarse noise of the waves. I called the "mate, and informed 
him of this phenomenon. Being curious to ascertain the cause, 
we ran toward the shore, the moon's rays affording us light. 
As far as the eye could reach, their fatal lustre enabled us to 
perceive the surface of the water motionless beneath the chains 
of ice, which was piled up, in different places, in heaps of pro- 
digious height. It is impossible to describe the sensation of 
despondency which overwhelmed our minds at this sight — 
unable to proceed farther on our expedition, or to return to 
our former cabin, which would have defended us better from 
the redoubled severity of the cold ! How long were we to 
continue in this dreadful situation 1 
Two days elapsed amidst these gloomy reflections. At 
length, on the 9th, the wind abated. It shifted the following 
day to the southeast, and blew with such violence that all the 
ice by which we were blocked up in the bay was broken to 
pieces with a great noise, and driven out into the open sea, 
so that by four o'clock in the afternoon there was none left, ex- 
cepting along the shore. 
In breaking the chains that detained us, the tyrant of the 
air forged others for us by violence. It was not till after two 
days that the wind abated. A light breeze blowing along the 
shore, our boat was launched and the sail hoisted. We were 
already proceeding with a favorable course, when at several 
leagues distant we perceived an extremely elevated point of 
