cely overcome the chilliness occasioned by lying down in wet
clothes, when the Union broke from her moorings in a violent gust of
wind, and began to drive across the inlet towards the lee-shore, on
which there was a considerable surf. Mr. Kendall and one of the crew,
who were sleeping on board, to be ready in case of accident, lowered the
covering with the utmost expedition, and taking the oars, kept her from
driving far, until the rest of the party arrived to their assistance in
the Dolphin. The boats were brought to the beach and secured, and we had
again retired to rest, when the tent-pegs, although loaded with drift
timber, were drawn up by the force of the wind, and the tent, drenched
with rain, fell upon us. It was in vain to attempt to sleep after this,
benumbed as we were by the coldness of the weather; but the rain ceasing
about four in the morning of the 8th, we were enabled to make a good
fire, and dry our clothes. The cargo of the boats was then landed, the
wet packages spread out to dry, and the boats were drawn upon the beach
so as to form, with the baggage, a three-sided breast-work, to which we
could retreat, should the Esquimaux pay us a hostile visit. These
arrangements being made, the tent was removed to a more sheltered spot,
and we slept quietly until ten o'clock in the morning. In the night an
accident happened to Mr. Kendall, which might have had fatal
consequences, and alarmed us at the time exceedingly. The point of a
small two-edged knife which he wore in a sheath slung from his neck,
was, by his falling against one of the tent-poles, forced through the
sheath into his side, exactly in the region of the heart. Through the
mercy of Providence, its progress was arrested by one of the ribs, and
the wound healed in the course of a few days. At noon a meridian
observation was obtained, which placed the mouth of Refuge Cove in
latitude 69 degrees 29 minutes N.; and the sun's bearing showed the
variation of the magnetic needle to be 49-1/2 degrees easterly. The
length of our voyage the preceding day was fifty-seven miles. Refuge
Cove has an irregular form; its length is about two miles and a half,
and its greatest width one mile. It is upwards of two fathoms deep at
the entrance, and for some distance within; but a bar runs from Shoal
Islet to its north side. Its shores are flat and sandy, but here and
there hummocks rise abruptly to the height of one hundred feet,
resembling the downs on the Norfolk co