ry, found that we had, by chance, a few fathom of
thick untarred rope. This, which in our situation was an inestimable
treasure, I ordered to be untwisted; but as the yarns were found to be
too thick for our purpose, it became necessary to pick them into oakham;
and when this was done, the most difficult part of the work remained;
for this oakham could not be spun into yarn, till, by combing, it was
brought into hemp, its original state. This was not seamen's work, and
if it had, we should have been at a loss how to perform it for want of
combs; one difficulty therefore arose upon another, and it was necessary
to make combs, before we could try our skill in making hemp. Upon this
trying occasion we were again sensible of the danger to which we were
exposed by the want of a forge: Necessity, however, the fruitful mother
of invention, suggested an expedient. The armourer was set to work to
file nails down to a smooth point, with which we produced a tolerable
succedaneum for a comb; and one of the quarter-masters was found
sufficiently skilled in the use of this instrument to render the oakham
so smooth and even, that we contrived to spin it into yarn, as fine as
our coarse implements would admit; and thus we made tolerable log-lines,
although we found it much more difficult than to make cordage of our old
cables, after they had been converted into junk, which was an expedient
that we had been obliged to practise long before. We had also long
before used all our sewing sail-twine, and if, knowing that the quantity
with which I had been supplied was altogether inadequate to the wants of
such a voyage, I had not taken the whole quantity that had been put on
board to repair the seine into my own custody, this deficiency might
have been fatal to us all.

SECTION IV.

_An Account of the Discovery of Queen Charlotte's Islands, with a
Description of them and their Inhabitants, and of what happened at
Egmont Island._

The scurvy still continued to make great progress among us, and those
hands that were not rendered useless by disease, were worn down by
excessive labour; our vessel, which at best was a dull sailer, had been
long in so bad a condition that she would not work; and on the 10th, to
render our condition still more distressful and alarming, she sprung a
leak in the bows, which being under water, it was impossible to get at
while we were at sea. Such was our situation, when, on the 12th, at
break of day, we discove