276 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. had sent our despatches and letters on board the Lee, and stood in 
towards the rocky islet called Agnes’ Monument, passing between it 
and the low point which forms the entrance to the inlet on the northern side. 
This channel, which is two miles wide, appears bold in every part. As soon 
as we had opened the inlet, we dropped off at once from twenty into no 
bottom with thirty fathoms of line ; we then hauled over to the Monument, 
and, passing at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards from it, had 
twenty-seven fathoms, on a bottom of coarse sand. 
The north shore of the entrance to this inlet has a sandy beach, along 
which we stood for three or four miles towards some low islands, near which 
we were directed to look for the Esquimaux huts. Night came on, however, 
before we could discover them ; and we, therefore, stood out till day-light. 
We saw, in the course of this day, more than a dozen large black whales, 
principally near the inlet, and the Friendship, of Hull, Mr. Macbride master, 
was in sight to the eastward, with a fish alongside. 
The weather was too thick, with snow, on the morning of the 6th, to 
allow us to stand in for the land. We spoke the Friendship, and Mr. Bell, 
one of the owners, kindly offered us any assistance in his power. The wea- 
ther having cleared before noon, we bore up for the inlet, being near an 
immense iceberg, which, from its situation and dimensions, we recognised to 
be the same that had been measured in September, 1818, and found to be 
upwards of two miles in length. It was aground in precisely the same spot 
as before, where it will probably remain year after year, till gradually wasted 
by dissolution. 
At six in the evening, being near the outermost of the islands, with which 
we afterwards found this inlet to be studded, we observed four canoes 
paddling towards the ship; they approached with great confidence, and 
came alongside without the least appearance of fear or suspicion. While 
paddling towards us, and indeed before we could plainly perceive their 
canoes, they continued to vociferate loudly ; but nothing like a song, nor 
even any articulate sound, which can be expressed by words, could be distin- 
guished. Their canoes were taken on board by their own desire, plainly 
intimated by signs, and with their assistance, and they at once came up the 
side without hesitation. These people consisted of an old man, apparently 
much above sixty, and three younger, from nineteen to thirty years of age. 
As soon as they came on deck, their vociferations seemed to increase with 
their astonishment, and, I may add, their pleasure ; for the reception they 
