48 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEEGEN 
place to be 78 degr. and 5 minutes (the sunne’s declinacon 
for that daie being 23 degr. 10 minutes). 
The 2 d of June, liaueing gotten a little more northward, 
and being on the west side of the iland, againe becalm’d, 
about 3 leagues distant from shoare, I and Joh. Wilmote, one 
of the master’s mates, w th 6 more of our sailors, went ashoare 
in a Biska shallop, purposeing to kill some deare and some 
wilde fowle: and, to that end, wee took w th us such dogs as 
wee had in our ship* — viz., a srrewhownd, a mas- 
* The Mathew. . 7 0 
tiffe, and a water-spamell; and two fowlemg-peeces, 
w th shott and pouder. 
Wee landed upon a hard shingle, comeing dose to the 
shoare w th our boat, ther being no ice to keepe us off; not¬ 
withstanding, upon 5 or 6 rocks neare the shoare-side, ther 
laie a great quantitie of ice, w ch couered them in such sorte, 
that the hollownes or distances betwixt one rock and another 
apeared under the ice like vaulted caues. After that wee 
were landed upon the shingle, the ice, or congealed snowe, 
was so high upon the shoare, that it withstood us like a strong 
wall to passe anie further: wherefore wee were faine one to 
help up another, it being more then a man’s height in thick- 
nes, and haueing manie long isicles hanging in diuers places, 
When wee were up, and had gon about 2 roods, wee might 
p r ceave that wee were upon the ground, or sand; yett could 
not well see it, by reason of the snowe. Then did wee look 
about if wee could see anie deare; and presentlie espied one 
buck: whereupon wee dispersed ourselues seuerall waies, to 
gett betwixt him and the mountaines; slipping sometimes 
to the midleg into the snowe, w ch , for the most parte, did 
beare us aboue. In our waie, wee went ouer 2 or 3 bare 
spotts that were full of flatt stones, whereon there grewe a 
certaine white mosse, w ch , it seemes, the deare doe feed upon 
at the first beginning of their somer; for theise spotts were 
full of their ordure: and, besides, wee then sawe not any 
other thing for them to liue on. 
