2o6 l^he Discoveries and Settlement s Book I. 
ftrong and nimble', and to have Skill in wreftling, 
for they call fome of our Men that were good Wreft- 
lers. 
“ On the 4th the Mafter of the Mermaid went to 
“ certain Iflands to ftore himfelf with Woocl, where he 
“ found a Grave with divers buried in itj covered with 
Seal-Skins only, and a Crofs laid over them* The 
“ People are of good Stature, well proportioned, with 
“ fmall (lender Hands and Feet, broad Vifages, fmali 
Eyes, wide Mouths, the moil Part unbearded, great 
Lips and clofe-toothed ; they are much given to 
bleed, and therefore ftop their Nofes with Deers Hair, 
or that of an Elan* One of them kindled a Fire after 
this Manner : He took a Piece of a Board wherein was 
a Hole half through *, then he put into the Hole the 
‘‘ End of a round Stick like a Bed-ftaff, wetting the 
End thereof with Train-oil, and (as your Turners do) 
with a piece of Leather by the Violent Motion he 
fpeedily produced Fire *, this done he made a Fire with 
Turfs, into which, with many Words and ftrange Gef- 
‘‘ tures, he put divers things,which wefuppofed to be a Sa- 
crifice ; they defired me to go into the Smoak, and I 
“ willed them likeWife to ftand in the Smoak, which 
they would by no means do j I then thruft one of them 
“ into the Smoak, and commanded one of my Men to 
“ tread out the Fire and fpurn it into the Sea, to (hew 
them that We did contemn their Sorcery* They are 
very fimple in their Converfation, but marVeloufly 
thieviih, efpecially of Iron, which they have in great 
“ efteem. They cut away the Moon-Jhine'^ s Boat from 
“ her Stem •, they cut our Cables and our Cloth where 
it lay to air, though we did carefully look to it •, 
“ they (lole our Oars, a Caliver, a Boat, a Spear, a 
Sword, with divers other things, which fo grieved the 
Company, that they defired me to di(Tolve this new 
Friendlhip whereupon I ordered a Caliver to be (hot 
among them, and immediately upon the fame a FaF 
‘‘ con j which ftrange Noife did fo amaze them, that 
they departed with all Speed j but within ten Hours 
they returned and intreated a Peace, which being grant- 
“ ed, they brought us Seal-Skins and Salmon-Peal, but 
“ when they faw Iron they could not forbear dealing j 
“ which when I perceived, I commanded that in no 
“ Cafe they (hould be any more hardly ufed, but that 
“ our own People (hould be more vigilant to keep their 
things. 
They eat all their Meat raw; they live mod 
upon Fifti, drink Salt-water, and eat Grafs and Ice 
with Delight ; they make Fi(hing-ncts with Whale- 
“ Fins; 'tis probable they have Wars with thofe on the 
“ main Land, many of them being fore wounded, which 
“ Wounds they received upon the main Land, as by 
Signs they gave us to underftand. The lyth of July 
I went afhore in our new Pinnace, and with the mod 
Part of my Company went to the Top of an high 
Mountain, hoping from thence to fee into the Coun- 
“ try ; but the Mountains were fo many and fo lofty 
that we could not fee far ; we returned to our Pinnace 
and faw a ftrange Sight, which was a mighty Whirl- 
wind, continuing three Hours with little IntermilTion, 
‘‘ which taking up the Water in great Quantities, furi- 
“ ou(ly mounted it into the Air. The next Morning, 
the Storm being over, we failed into a mighty great 
. “ River, direftly into the Body of the Land, and 
found it to be no firm Land, but huge, vaft, and 
defert Elands, with mighty Sounds and Inlets palTing 
“ between Sea and Sea. On the 9th we returned to 
our Ships, where our Mariners complained heavily 
againft the People, that they had ftolen an Anchor 
from us, had cut one of our Cables very danger- 
oufly, and fpared not to (ling Stones at us of half a 
pound Weight: The next Day I went afhore and ufed 
them with much Courtefy, and when I returned they 
followed me in their Canoes ; I gave fome of them 
Bracelets, and feven or eight of them came on Board, 
whom I uied kindly, and let them depart ; as foon as 
Sun was fet they began to pra6life their devili(h Nature, 
and with Slings threw Stones very fiercely into the 
Sun-J}oine^ and kngcked down the Boatfwain ; where- 
“ upon we purfiied them with our Boats, and (hot at 
“ them ; but they rowed fo fwiftly, that we could not 
“ reach them. 
“ On the I ith five of them came to make a ne\v 
‘‘ Truce ; the Mafter acquainted hie with their coming, 
“ and defired they might be kept Prifoners until we 
“ had our Anchor again ; but when he faw the chief 
“ Ring-leader and Mafter of Mifchief was one of the 
“ five; he was then very urgent to have him feized, and 
fo it was determined to take him ; he came crying 
“ Biaouty and, ftriking his Bread, offered a Pair of 
“ Gloves to fell ; the Mafter offered him a Knife for 
“ them : So two of them came to us, one we dilmiffed, 
“ but the other was foon made Captive among Us ; then 
“ we pointed to him and his Fellows for our Anchor, 
“ which being had, we made Signs to him he fhould be 
“ fet at Liberty ; about an Hour after the Wind came fair, 
“ and we fet fail and brought him away with us. One 
“ of his Companions, following oUr Ship in his Canoe, 
‘‘ talked with him, and feemed to lament his Condition ; 
“ we ftill ufing him well, and faying to him Iliaouty 
“ i. e. we mean no harm, at laft he aboard fpake four 
“ or five Words to the other, and clapped both his 
“ Hands on his Face, the other did the like, and fo 
“ parted ; we judged the covering his Face, and bow- 
“ ing down his Body, fignified his Death ; after fome 
“ Time he became a pleafant Companion among us ; 
“ I gave him a new fuit of Frize of the Englifli Falliion, 
“ of which he Was Very fond ; he trimmed up his Darts 
“ and all his filhing Tools, and would make Okam, and 
“ fet his Eland to the Rope’s-end ; he fed upon Caplin 
“ and dry Newland Fi(h. The 1 7th, being in Latitude 
“ of 63° 8', we fell in with a mighty Mafs of Ice, very 
“ high, like Land, with Bays and Capes ; and, fuppofing 
“ it to be Land, we fent our Pinnace to difcover it ; but, 
“ on her return, we were affured that it was only Ice, 
“ which caufed great Admiration to us all, and the ra- 
“ ther, becaufe in this Place we had very tickle and 
“ ftrong Currents* We coafted this Mafs of Ice till the 
30th, finding it a great Bar to our_ Purpofe. The 
“ Air was now fo foggy, and the Sea lo peftered with 
“ Ice, that all Hopes of proceeding was banifhed ; for 
“ on the 24th of July our Shrouds, Ropes, and Sails, 
“ were fo frozen and compaffed with Ice, only by a 
grofs Fog, as feemed to us very ftrange, who the 
“ laft Year found this Sea free and navigable without 
“ Impediments* 
“ Our Men, through this Extremity, began to grow 
“ fick and feeble, and withal hopelefs of good Suc- 
“ cel's ; whereupon, very orderly and difcreetly, they in- 
“ treated me to regard our prefent State, and withal 
“ advifed me, that in Confcience I ought to preferve my 
own Life and theirs ; and that I fhould not, through my 
“ own Boldnefs, leave their Widows and fatherlefs Chil- 
“ dren to give me bitter Curfes. This did move me 
“ to commiferate their Condition, yet confidering the 
“ Importance of this Difeovery if it could be accom~ 
“ plifhed, the great Hopes of a Paffage by what we had 
“ feen the laft Voyage, and that there was yet a third Way 
“ to be attempted, I thought it would turn to my Dif- 
“ credit if the Aftion fhould fail through my Negledt, 
“ therefore refolved to profecute it ; and confidering 
“ the Mermaidy by Reafon of her Burden, was not fo 
“ nimble and convenient for this Purpofe as a fmaller 
“ Bark, and was 100 /. a Month Charge to the Adven- 
“ turers ; I determined to revidtual the Moon-Jhiney and 
“ proceed as God fhould direft m*e : Whereupon I al- 
“ tered my Courfe to recover the next Shore, where this 
“ might be performed ; and the ift of Auguft difeovered 
“ Land without Snow or Ice, in Latitude 66° 33', and 
“ in Longitude, from the Meridian of Londony 70°. 
“ On the 2d we anchored in a very good Road, where, 
“ with all Speed, v/e graved and re-vi6lualled the Mocn- 
“ pine ; we found it here very hot, and we were very 
“ much troubled with' Mufkitos, which did fting griev- 
“ oufly. The People of the Country caught a Seal, and, 
“ with Bladders faft tyed to him, fent him to us with 
“ the Flood, fo as he came right with our Ship, which 
“ we took as a friendly Prefent from them* On the 
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