BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 231 



next morning it was violently struck on the weather* 

 side by a heavy drifting floe, and for some minutes it 

 rocked and oscillated in awful menace of an overturn ; 

 but a large piece fell with a splash into the sea from one 

 of its corners, and providentially restored the equi- 

 librium. 



On the 14th of August the Terror entered the nar- 

 rows between Salisbury Island and the north coast. A 

 resolution was now taken to steer for the Frozen Strait 

 The course for four days continued to be severe, yet 

 afforded considerable promise. But, on the 18th, after 

 the ship had worked for some time in only one hole of 

 water, she was arrested by a dense unbroken pack, of 

 fearful extent and most wildly rugged surface. Yet the 

 ship pushed boldly into it, and very soon, to the sur- 

 prise and joy of all, the stupendous mass went asunder, 

 and disclosed a path through what seemed an impene- 

 trable barrier. 



On the 23d of August they sighted Baffin Island, 

 which flanks the north side of the entrance of the 

 Frozen Strait. But they found not a channel or a water- 

 lane, even of the width of a brook, to invite them on. 

 The scene everywhere around was a tumulated sea of 

 ice, without one break, without one cheering feature, 

 and with a surface so rough, and heaved, and peaked, 

 that no human being could have travelled on it for more 

 than a very brief distance. They all but abandoned 

 expectation of ever getting into the Frozen Strait, and 

 were now glad to attempt to work their way toward 

 Southampton Island. They warped and bored, and 

 spent many an hour in feverish excitement. On the 25th 

 they made some little distance through a slack ; but at 

 sunset they were stopped near an extensive floe, where, 

 from the effects of pressure, some ponderous masses, 

 not unlike the blocks of a Titanian ruin, had been heaped 



