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leaves are four feet long, and some of the stalks, though not thicker than a man's thumb, above one hundred and twenty Banks and Solander examined some of them, over which we sounded and had fourteen fathom, which is eighty-four feet; and, as they made a very acute angle with the bottom, they were thought to be at least one half longer. Upon the report of the master I stood in with the ship, but not trusting implicitly to his intelligence I continued to sound, and found but four fathom upon the first ledge that I went over; concluding, therefore, that I could not anchor here without risk, I determined to seek some port in the strait, where I might get on board such wood and water as we wanted.

This I found at two o'clock on the 15th, when we anchored in the bay of Good Success, and after dinner I went on shore, accompanied by Banks and Solander, to look for a watering-place, and speak to the Indians, several of whom had come in sight. We landed on the starboard side of the bay near some rocks, which made smooth water and good landing; thirty or forty of them soon made their appearance, and three of them accompanied us back to the ship. When they came on board, one of them, whom we took to be a priest, performed much the same ceremonies which M. Bougainville describes, and supposes to be an exorcism. When he was introduced into a new part of the ship, or when any thing that he had not seen before caught his attention, he shouted with all his force for some minutes, without directing his voice either to us or his companions. They ate some bread and some beef, but not apparently with much pleasure, though such part of what was given them as they did not eat they took away with them; but they would not swallow a drop either of wine or spirits; they put the glass to their lips,

but, having tasted the liquor, they returned it, with strong expressions of disgust.

Curiosity seems to be one of the few passions which distinguish men from brutes; and of this our guests appeared to have very little. They went from one part of the ship to another, and looked at the vast variety of new objects that every moment presented themselves, without any expression either of wonder or pleasure; for the vociferation of our exorcist seemed to be neither.

TERRIBLE EFFECT OF EXTREME COLD WHEN JOINED WITH

FATIGUE.

On the 16th, early in the morning, Banks and Solander, with their attendants, servants, and two seamen, accompanied by Monkhouse the surgeon and Green the astronomer, set out from the ship, with a view to penetrate as far as they could into the country, and return at night. The hills, when viewed at a distance, seemed to be partly a wood, partly a plain, and above them a bare rock. Banks hoped to get through the wood, and made no doubt that, beyond it, he should find, in a country which no botanist had ever yet visited, alpine plants which would abundantly compensate his labour. They entered the wood at a small sandy beach, a little to the westward of the watering-place, and continued to ascend the hill, through the pathless wilderness, till three o'clock. Soon after they reached what they had taken for a plain; but, to their great disappointment, found it a swamp, covered with low bushes of birch, about three feet high, interwoven with each other, and so stubborn that they could not be bent out of the way; it was therefore necessary to lift the leg over them, which at every step was buried, ankle deep, in the soil. To aggravate the pain and difficulty of

such travelling, the weather, which had hitherto been very fine (much like one of our bright days in May), became gloomy and cold, with sudden blasts of a most piercing wind, accompanied with snow. They pushed forward, however, in good spirits, hoping the worst of the way was past, and that the bare rock which they had seen from the tops of the lower hills was not more than a mile before them; but when they had got about two-thirds over this woody swamp, Buchan, one of Banks's draughtsmen, was unhappily seized with a fit. This made it necessary for the whole company to halt, and as it was impossible that he should go any further, a fire was kindled, and those who were most fatigued were left behind to take care of him, whilst Banks, Solander, and the others, went on to botanize at the summit.

The cold was now become more severe, and the snow-blasts more frequent; the day also was so far spent, that it was found impossible to get back to the ship before the next morning; but to pass the night upon such a mountain, in such a climate, was not only comfortless, but dreadful.

By an arrangement the whole company assembled at an appointed rendezvous, and, though pinched with cold, were in health and spirits, Buchan himself having recovered his strength in a much greater degree than could have been expected. It was now near eight o'clock in the evening, but still good daylight, and they set forward for the nearest valley, Banks himself undertaking to bring up the rear, and see that no straggler was left behind, a caution afterwards found to be by no means superfluous. Solander, who had more than once crossed the mountains which divide Sweden from Norway, well knew that extreme cold, especially when joined with fatigue,

produces a torpor and sleepiness that are almost irresistible, conjured the company to keep moving, whatever pain it might cost them, and whatever relief they might be promised by an inclination to rest, enforcing his warning by these words :

"WHOEVER SITS DOWN WILL SLEEP; AND WHOEVER SLEEPS WILL WAKE NO MORE."

Thus, at once admonished and alarmed, they set forward; but while they were still upon the naked rock, and before they had got among the bushes, the cold became suddenly so intense, as to produce the effects that had been most dreaded. Solander himself was the first to succumb to its influence, finding the inclination, against which he had warned others, irresistible; and he insisted upon being suffered to lie down. Banks entreated and remonstrated in vain: down he lay upon the ground, though it was covered with snow; and it was with great difficulty that his friend kept him from sleeping. One of the black servants also began to linger, having suffered from the cold in the same manner, and when he was told that if he did not go on he would in a short time be frozen to death, he answered, that he desired nothing but to lie down and die: the doctor did not so explicitly renounce his life; he said he was willing to go on, but that he must first take some sleep, though he had before told the company "that to sleep was to perish." There being no remedy, they were both suffered to sit down, and in a few minutes they fell into a profound sleep; soon after, some of those people who had been sent forward returned with the welcome news that a fire was kindled about a quarter of a mile farther on the way. Banks then endeavoured to wake Solander, and happily succeeded; but, though he had not slept five minutes.

he had almost lost the use of his limbs, and the muscles were so shrunk that his shoes fell from his feet. As no attempts to relieve the poor black servant were successful, he was necessarily left to his fate, with another black servant and a seaman to look after him. Another fall of snow now came on, and continued incessantly for two hours, so that all hope of seeing those left behind again alive was given up; but about twelve o'clock, to the great joy of those at the fire, a shouting was heard at some distance, which proceeded from the seaman and the other two, who had just strength enough left to stagger along, and call out for assistThe black servant was upon his legs, but not able to put one before the other; his companion was lying upon the ground, insensible as a stone. All hands were now called from the fire, and an attempt was made to carry them to it; but this, notwithstanding the united efforts of the whole company, was found to be impossible. They were, therefore, reduced to the sad necessity of again leaving the unhappy wretches to their fate, having first made them a bed of boughs from the trees, and spread a covering of the same kind over them to a considerable height.

ance.

When the morning dawned, they saw nothing round them, as far as the eye could reach, but snow, which seemed to lie as thick upon the trees as upon the ground; and the blasts returned so frequently, and with such violence, that they found it impossible for them to set out; how long this might last they knew not, and they had but too much reason to apprehend that it would confine them in that desolate forest till they perished with hunger and cold. After having suffered the misery and terror of this situation till six o'clock in the morning, they conceived some hope of deliverance by discovering the place of the sun through the clouds, which were become thinner, and began to break away.

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