northward beyond
it, and had therefore no prospect of advancing farther N. for the present,
Captain Clerke resolved to bear away to the S. by E. (the only quarter that
was clear), and to wait till the season was more advanced, before he made
any farther efforts to penetrate through the ice. The intermediate time he
proposed to spend in examining the bay of Saint Laurence, and the coast to
the southward of it; as a harbour so near, in case of future damage from
the ice, would be very desirable. We also wished to pay another visit to
our Tschutski friends; and particularly since the accounts we had heard of
them from the commander of Kamtschatka.

We therefore stood on to the southward, till the noon of the 10th, at which
time we passed great quantities of drift-ice, and the wind fell to a
perfect calm. The latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. 1', longitude 188 deg. 30'.
We passed several whales in the forenoon, and in the afternoon hoisted out
the boats, and sent them in pursuit of the sea-horses, which were in great
numbers on the pieces of ice that surrounded us. Our people were more
successful than they had been before, returning with three large ones and a
young one; besides killing and wounding several others. The gentlemen who
went on this party were witnesses of several remarkable instances of
parental affection in those animals. On the approach of our boats toward
the ice, they all took their cubs under their fins, and endeavoured to
escape with them into the sea. Several, whose young were killed or wounded,
and left floating on the surface, rose again, and carried them down,
sometimes just as our people were going to take them up into the boat; and
might be traced bearing them to a great distance through the water, which
was coloured with their blood; we afterward observed them bringing them at
times above the surface, as if for air, and again diving under it with a
dreadful bellowing. The female, in particular, whose young had been
destroyed, and taken into the boat, became so enraged, that she attacked
the cutter, and struck her two tusks through the bottom of it.

At eight in the evening, a breeze sprang up to the eastward, with which we
still continued our course to the southward, and at twelve fell in with
numerous large bodies of ice. We endeavoured to push through them with an
easy sail, for fear of damaging the ship; and having got a little farther
to the southward, nothing was to be seen but one compac