carrying on our business on this line of communication. With the view,
therefore, of carrying this design into effect, I had a boat built
in the course of the winter, in which I embarked with a strong crew
on the 25th of June, the river not being clear of ice at an earlier
period; and sweeping down on the top of the current at railroad speed,
reached the sea in about three hours.

It being still early in the day, and no ice to be seen, we pulled for
the opposite side of the bay, in the hope of reaching it ere dark. The
weather being perfectly calm we advanced rapidly, and had proceeded
about seven miles with every prospect of effecting our purpose,
when lo! the tide was observed to be making against us; and the ice
returning with it, apparently in a compact body, we were placed in
rather a critical situation. The sun was declining, while the coast
presented a solid wall of ice, which precluded the possibility of
landing anywhere nearer than the mouth of South River.

Towards that point, therefore, the head of the boat was directed, and
the crew, seeing the imminence of the danger, rowed with all their
might; and by dint of strenuous exertions, we made good our landing
ere the ice closed in around us. A few minutes after not a speck of
water could be descried.

Next morning, the ice still covered the bay, leaving only a narrow
strip of open water along the shore; into this channel we pushed our
boat, and for some time made but little progress, being continually
interrupted by pieces of ice, which the high tide detached from the
shore. Our channel, however, soon widened, and in a short time not
a particle of ice could be seen, disappearing as if by magic; for
in a few minutes after it began to move, no traces of it could be