182 NORTH 
an(vcer of an old man, whom lie (Fox) had afked at whofe 
toft the faid pier was built ? “ Marrye, at my good lord 
Lumley’s, whofe foule was in heaven before his bones 
were cold.” This kind of goflipping occurs in almoft 
every page of Fox’s journal. 
On the 20th he arrives off Cape Chidley ; a fpot which 
brings to his fertile recollection “ Gibbons and his Hole,” 
but why is not very apparent. The hade with which he 
endeavoured to pafs through Hudfon’s Strait to the weft- 
ward, and to avoid the fate of Gibbons, induced fome 
one of his officers to a Ik him why he was in fuch a hurry ? 
and his anfwer was, “ that it fared with him as with the 
mackarell-men of London, who mull haften to market 
before the fiffi ftinke.” Towards the weftern extremity 
of the ftrait he was much hampered with ice, which he 
obferved to be of two kinds ; firft, mountainous ice, float¬ 
ing about in large mafl'es, “ feldome bigger than a great 
church ;” and the fecond kind is called “ mallit or fleackt 
ice, in pieces from a foot or two to two acres, and one or 
two feet high above the furface.” One of the mountain¬ 
ous pieces, larger than the reft, had a rock upon it of five 
or lix tons weight, with feveral other fmaller (tones and 
mud. On the ioth of July he had only reached Salifbury 
Iiland, where he obferved that “ the compafle doth al¬ 
moft loofe his fenfitive part,” which he afcribes to “ the 
(harpnefle of the ayre, interpofed betwixt the needle and 
his attraCHve point;” or, “ here may be fome moun- 
taines, of the one fide or the other, whofe minerall may 
detaine the nimblenefle of the needle’s moveing to his 
refpeCtive poyut; but this I leave to philofophie.” On 
the 20th of July, near Carey's Swan’s-neft, “ was a hot 
day as any in England, the henban flafliing all night;” and 
at midnight here was in the ayre many prttit-daucers," 
(fo lie calls the aurora borealis.) In coalting along the 
esftern (hore of America, he falls in with an ifland, in 
which were numerous burying places of the natives, and 
names it Sir Thomas Roue's Welcome; and to another 
ifland he gives the name of Brooke Cobham, and to a little 
group of iflands Briggs his Mathematickes. In the bury- 
ing-grounds of Sir Thomas Rowe’s Welcome they found 
many corpfes, wrapped in deer-ikins, and laid under 
Hones with their heads to the weft ; the longeltof which, 
Fox fays, was not above four feet long. The bodies were 
enclofecl with planks nine or ten feet long and four inches 
thick, a whole boat-load of which they carried off for 
(ire-wood. With the bodies were depofited bows, arrows, 
lances, darts, and other implements, carved in bone. 
Many of the darts were headed with iron, but one had a 
head of copper, which makes him conclude that fome 
Chriftians might have been there before him. 
From the Welcome, Fox Hood again to the fouthward, 
looking into Hubert’s Hope; and the day-light, he fays, 
enabled him to lee the bottom of “ vainely Hoapt Hal¬ 
bert.” On the 9th of Auguft he goes into Port Nelfon, 
for reafons affigned in long and minute detail, but .not of 
lufficient intereft or importance to tranfcribe. Here they 
found acrofs which had been erefted by fir Thomas Button, 
(fill bearing his name. From Nelfon’s River, Fox (food 
acrofs the bay to the fouth-eaftvvard ; and on the 29th of 
Auguft fell in with Capt. James, on-board whofe (hip he 
went, and “ was well entertained and feafted ;” for which, 
however, he makes but a (curvy kind of return. And at 
length, having coafted a conflderable time towards the 
bottom part of Hudfon’s Bay to no purpofe, he again 
directed his courfe to the northward on the 4th of Sep¬ 
tember, naming the cape he laft parted from Wo/Jienholme's 
XIitimum Vale; “ for that I do believe fir John Wolften- 
liolme will not lay out any more monies in fearch of this 
bay.” On the 8th he had advanced to the land on which 
is Carey's Swan’s-Neft, and obferves, that “ every night 
here are petti-dancers, and red fire-fta(hes in the ayre molt 
fearful to behold.” Proceeding to the northward, he 
pailes a cape, to which he gives the nlme of King Charles 
his Promoniorie , and to another Cape Maria, “ in a molt 
b own den and dutifull remembrance of my king and 
POLE. 
queene, drinking their health, with the young princes.” 
The firft he eftimates to be in about latitude 64. 46. and 
the fecond eight leagues to the northward ; and he calls 
three iflands, lying north-weft of the promontory, The 
Trinitie Ijles, “ in remembrance of the houfe of Deepe- 
ford Strand.” To a headland lying fome minutes within 
the arCtic circle he gives the name of my Lord Wejlon's 
Portland, to another Cape Dorchejler, and to the land 
beyond this Fox his Farthejt. On the 25th of September 
he begins to think that they had. made but “ a feurvie 
voyage of it,” and that in his opinion it was the belt 
they could do to bear up homewards ; and accordingly 
he made fail out of Hudfon’s Strait, and arrived in the 
Downs on the 31 ft of OCtober, with all his men recovered 
and found, “ not having loft one man nor boy, nor any 
manner of tackling, having beene forth neerefix moneths ; 
all glory be to God.” 
Fox complains that he got no reward for his trouble; 
in faCt, the refult of the voyage evidently difappointed 
thofe who had been inftrumental in promoting it. He, 
however, maintains ftoutly the probability of a north- 
weft paffage, and that it will be found in SirThomasRoe’s 
Welcome, where the tide was obferved to come from the 
northward, and to rife higher than in any other part of 
Hudfon’s Bay ; he alfo obferved a great number of whales 
about this part, wdiich he conceives to indicate its proxi¬ 
mity to the great fea. It is rather iurpriftng that Fox, 
who was evidently a man of great fagacity, ffiould not 
have perftfted, on his firft arrival on the coaft of America, 
in tracking the current to the northward, from whence 
he obferved it to flow', inftead of following it to the fouth¬ 
ward. On his fecond arrival in the Welcome, the feafon 
was too far advanced to profecute the difeovery to the 
northward. 
Captain James was furniftied with fimilar credentials 
from Charles I. to thofe which were given to Fox. He 
left Briftol in the Maria, of 70 tons, on the 3d of May, 
1631 ; palled Cape Farewell on the 9th of June, and on 
the 17th favv the Ifland of Refolution, not, however, be¬ 
fore he had many fields and iflands of mountainous ice 
to encounter, with a black-looking fea, a continual milt 
or fog, which is deferibed as thick, heavy, and (Unking; 
and the air fo piercing as to aft’edft the compafs, and caufe. 
a (luggilh and impeded motion in the magnetic needle. 
In endeavouring to pufli through Hudfon’s Strait, the 
thip was almoft continually be(et with ice, and fome- 
times driven about at the mercy of the tides and currents. 
To add to their diftrefs in this lituation, the (ails were 
frozen ftift', and the rigging hanging with ice. If Fox 
was conceited in confequence of the knowledge he had 
acquired from ftudying the voyages of his predecefl'ors, 
James feems to have been more culpably conceited in his 
total ignorance of all that had been done before him ; he 
not only appears to have been wholly unacquainted with 
the narratives of preceding voyagers, but purpofely, as 
he tells us, refufed to take with him any perfon who had 
previoufly been employed in a voyage of northern diico- 
very, or on the Spitzbergen fiftrery; the confequence of 
wdiich was, that, as loon as they had found themlelves 
lurrounded with ice, they w’ere wholly ignorant how to 
manage the (hip, and their want of experience not only 
alarmed them, but had nearly proved fatal to the (hip anti 
all on-board ; for, in endeavouring to avoid the ice, the 
(hip fettled upon a (harp rock, and the tide, then ebbing, 
left her hanging by the middle, and (lie fell over to luch 
a degree that they could not remain on her. “ Having 
now done,” fays James, “ to the beft of our underltand- 
ings, but to little purpofe, we went all upon a piece of 
ice, and fell to prayer, befeeclving God to be merciful 
unto us.” The flowing tide brought her upright and 
floated her off; “ then w'as our forrow turned to joy, and 
we all fell on our knees, praifing God for his mercy in 
lb miraculous a deliverance.” The ice, however, conti¬ 
nued to increafe to fuch an extent on all (ides, that they 
were unable to lee from the malt head the (pace of an 
acre 
