THE  "LAKD  OP DESOLATION."                     75
Davis sailed on the 7th of June, 1585. On the 19th of July, as the seamen approached the Arctic boundary, they heard, amid a calm sea beset with thick mist, a mighty roaring, as of the waves dashing on a rocky shore. The captain and master pushed off in the boat to examine this supposed beach, but were much surprised to find themselves involved amid numerous icebergs, while all this noise had been caused by the rolling and beating of these masses against each other.
Next day they came in view of Greenland, which appeared the most dreary and desolate ever seen; " deformed, rocky, and mountainous, like a sugar-loaf, standing to our sight above the clouds. It towered above the fog like a white list in the sky, the tops altogether covered with snow, the shore beset with ice, making such irksome noise that it was called the Land of Desolation."
After sailing for several days along this dreary shore, Davis pushed out north-westward into the open sea, hoping in " God's mercy to find our desired passage." On the 29th he came in view of a land in 64° north latitude, which was still only Greenland; but as the wind was unfavorable for proceeding westward, the air temperate, and the coast free from ice, he resolved to go on shore and take a view of the country and people. In the company of two others, he landed on an island, leaving directions for the rest to follow as soon as they should hear any loud signal. The party mounted the top of a rock, whence they were espied by the natives, who raised a lamentable noise, with loud outcries like the howling of wolves. Davis and his comrades hereupon struck up a high note, so modulated, that it might at once be alluring to the natives, and might summon his own crew to deeds