56 
Baffin's fifth expedition* 
that you may have the year before you, so that you go so farre 
southerly as that you may touch the north part of Japan, from 
whence or from Yedzo, if you can so compasse it without dan¬ 
gers, we would have you to bring home one of the men of the 
country, and so God blessing you with all expedition to make 
your return home again.” 
It was onthe 26th March 1616, that the Discovery sailed from 
Gravesend, and after a prosperous voyage across the atlantic, 
they reached Davis' Strait, and came to an anchor in a sound, in 
latitude 70° 20'. An attempt was made to enter into a friendly 
communication with the natives, but rather than commit them¬ 
selves into any intercourse, they made a precipitate flight, leaving 
even their dogs behind them, in which a great part of their riches 
is made to consist; for, without these useful animals they would 
be unable to travel to their different fishing stations, or to trans¬ 
port themselves and families to their distant locations. From 
some gestures and exclamations which the natives made, pointing 
constantly to the Sun, it was conjectured that the opinion rested 
in their mind, that the strangers had dropped from that lumi¬ 
nary, and that their visit boded no good to them. They appeared 
to be in a wretched state of indigence, living chiefly on seals 
flesh, which they devoured in a raw state. 
As the summer advanced the ice began gradually to disappear, 
and Baffin, determined to keep a northernly course, but at mid¬ 
summer the cold was so intense, that the sails and ropes could 
not be handled ,on account of their frozen state. As they approached 
the latitude of 75°, the ice had disappeared, and their hope of 
success was strongly excited when they saw before them an open 
sea, the navigation of which appeared to be free and uninterrupt¬ 
ed and leading perhaps directly into the Pacific. Meeting with 
some tempestuous weather, they were forced into a sound, in 
which the whales were so numerous that it was named Whale 
Sound, Sailing from this sound, they took refuge in another 
inlet, which extended northward to 78°, and to which they gave 
the name of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound . Speaking of this sound 
Baffin says, “ It is admirable in one respect, because in it is the 
