The one was made of
fir, spruce, and oaken boards, sawn like inch boards; the other was
made all of whalebone, and there hung on the tops of the sleds three
heads of beasts which they had killed. We saw here larks, ravens,
and partridges.
The 17th we went on shore, and in a little thing made like an oven
with stones I found many small trifles, as a small canoe made of
wood, a piece of wood made like an image, a bird made of bone, beads
having small holes in one end of them to hang about their necks, and
other small things. The coast was very barbarous, without wood or
grass. The rocks were very fair, like marble, full of veins of
divers colours. We found a seal which was killed not long before,
being flayed and hid under stones.
Our captain and master searched still for probabilities of the
passage, and first found that this place was all islands with great
sounds passing between them.
Secondly, the water remained of one colour with the main ocean
without altering.
Thirdly, we saw to the west of those isles three or four whales in a
scull, which they judged to come from a westerly sea, because to the
eastward we saw not any whale.
