of the country, and the Hoy Hill, is
striking and romantic, and as our stay here was for a few days, I
accepted an invitation to the Manse, from the kind and worthy minister
of Hoy, and ascended with him the hill, of about 1620 feet high.
The sabbath we spent at sea was a delight to me, from the arrangement
made by the captain for the attendance of the passengers and part of
the crew on divine worship, both morning and afternoon. Another sabbath
had now returned, and the weather being fair, all were summoned to
attend on the quarter deck. We commenced the service by singing the Old
Hundredth Psalm, and our voices being heard by the crews of several
ships, lying near to us at anchor, they were seen hurrying on deck from
below, so as to present to us a most interesting and gratifying sight--
"We stood, and under open sky adored
The God, that made both 'seas,' air, earth, and heaven."
There appeared to be a solemn impression; and I trust that religion was
felt among us as a divine reality.
JUNE 22.--The ships got under weigh to proceed on our voyage; and as we
passed the rugged and broken rocks of Hoy Head, we were reminded of the
fury of a tempestuous ocean, in forming some of them into detached
pillars, and vast caverns; while they left an impression upon the mind,
of desolation and danger. We had not sailed more than one hundred miles
on the Atlantic before it blew a strong head wind, and several on board
with myself were greatly affected by the motion of the ship. It threw
me into such a state of languor, that I felt as though I could have
willingly yielded to have been cast overboard, and it was nearly a week
before I was relieved from this painful sensation and nausea, peculiar
to sea sickness.
Without any occurrence worthy of notice we arrived in Davis's Straits
on the 19th of July, where Greenland ships are sometimes met with,
returning from the whale fishery, but we saw not a single whaler in
this solitary part of the ocean. The Mallemuk, found in great numbers
off Greenland, and the "Larus crepidatus," or black toed gull,
frequently visited us; and for nearly a whole day, a large shoal of the
"Delphinus deductor," or leading whale, was observed following the
ship. The captain ordered the harpoons and lances to be in readiness in
case we fell in with the great Greenland whale, but nothing was seen of
this monster of the deep.
In approaching Hudson's straits, we first saw one of those beautiful
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