known you long, so well deserved. Until I accidentally met you at this place, I had not the pleasure of ever seeing you; but since that period, I have had repeated proofs of your zeal and attention to all your duties, which has created in me an anxious feeling in your welfare; and I confidently hope that the address which has been presented to you will be as highly appreciated at home as I have reason to know it is in this island, more particularly so at this period, when a petition has been forwarded to England, complaining of the present system of administering justice in this country, which the address alluded to most clearly contradicts. Wishing you every success, believe me, dear Sir, very faithfully yours,
“P.S. – I am told you are to go to the southward, under my orders; and I can only say, that had I had to make the solicitation I should have asked for the Clinker; hence I am much pleased with the arrangement.”
“Sir,– I am desired by Lord Melville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th of April, with the satisfactory testimonial herewith returned, the contents of which have been placed upon record; and to acquaint you that a note has been made of your application, and that your claims will be brought under consideration, with those of other officers, in case any general promotion should take place. I am, Sir, &c. &c.
In the mean time, Lieutenant Martin had been ordered by Sir Charles Hamilton to explore the Grand Esquimaux Inlet, and from thence to proceed to the northward in order to find out and communicate with the different stations of the Moravian missionaries on the coast of Labrador. In performing the first part of this service, he skirted much field ice, passed numerous bergs, communicated with the mountaineer Indians near a fishing station about 100 miles from the entrance of the inlet, and, leaving the Clinker at an anchor there, on account of the shallowness of the water, proceeded in a canoe until his further progress was prevented by a magnificent waterfall, on the morning of the third day. His coasting voyage from the entrance of the inlet to Okak, the northernmost settlement, was most harassing, and pregnant with danger. On his arrival at that and the other stations he had been sent to visit, he was received with great joy, no vessel of any kind, except their own annual brig, having been there for fifty years preceding. On his return to St. John’s, Newfoundland, after an absence of exactly three months, he found
