On the following day I killed several birds, and saw two whales and many porpoises.  The weather was foggy, but the wind favourable for us.  As we were near the bank of Newfoundland, we got our fishing tackle ready, with the hope of mending our fare with cod; but the water was not calm enough for the purpose, and the fish would not bite.  We passed over the Great Bank without any danger, though the wind was high and the sea rough.

On the 29th of April we fell in with some icebergs.  A more magnificent and imposing spectacle cannot be conceived; but it is very fearful and sufficiently appalling.  Suddenly, we found ourselves close to an immense body of ice, whose vicinity bad been concealed from us by the denseness of the fog.  Our dangerous neighbour towered in majestic grandeur in the form of a triple cone rising from a square base, and surpassed the tallest cathedral in altitude.  The centre cone being cleft in the middle by the force of the waves, displayed the phenomenon of a waterfall, the water rushing into the sea from the height of thirty feet.  If the sun had pierced the vapoury veil which concealed it from our view, the refraction of his rays would have given to the ice the many-coloured tints of the rainbow.  We took care to keep a good look out; but the fog was thick.  We fell in with many other icebergs; but none so beautiful as this.

We doubled Cape Ray, and entered, on the 5th of May, the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The thermometer fell many degrees a change caused by the vicinity of the ice.  On the 5th of May we passed the Bird Rocks, three in number, to windward, so called from the immense number of geese and aquatic birds which resort thither to rear their broods.  These rocks rise to the height of four hundred feet, perpendicularly from the sea.  The fishermen, nevertheless, contrive to climb them for the sake of the eggs they find there.

The 6th of May found us in the river St. Lawrence, between the westernmost point of Anticosti to the north, and Cape Gaspe to the south, in the middle of the channel, surrounded by ships tacking up the stream, bound for Quebec and Montreal.  We had plenty of sea-room, as the river was more than ninety miles in breadth, and it is supposed to be full a hundred at its embouchure.

The land was partially covered with snow, which fell throughout the day.  On the 8th of May we sailed as far as the Seven Islands.  The day was glorious, and the prospect most beautiful.  Our vicinity to “the cold and pitiless Labrador,” rendered the air chilly, and we could hear the howling of the wolves at night, to me a new and dismal sound.  The aurora borealis was particularly splendid, for the air was clear and frosty.

On the 10th of May we stood for the Island of Bic, and took on board a pilot.  He was a handsome young man, a French-Canadian, under whose guidance we made the place, but we were becalmed before it for the whole forenoon.

The beauty of the scenery atoned, however, for the delay.  Nothing, indeed, could surpass it in my eyes, which had then only been accustomed to the highly-cultivated and richly-wooded tracts in Suffolk and Norfolk, and therefore dwelt with wonder and delight upon the picturesque shores and lofty heights that crowned the noble St. Lawrence.