Aug. 1S5S. FOX'S HOLE. 159 



will afford a valuable addition to our stock of lamp oil for 

 the coming winter. 



25///. — In Depot Bay. We remained but twenty-four 

 hours in Levesque Harbour; a change of wind led us 

 to hope for a removal of the ice in Bellot Strait, therefore I 

 determined to make another attempt. 



When off the table-land, where the depth is not more 

 than from 6 to 10 fathoms, and the tides run strongest, the 

 ship hardly moved over the ground, although going 6h knots 

 through the water ! Thus delayed, darkness overtook us, 

 and we anchored at midnight in a small indentation of the 

 north shore, christened by the men Foods Hole, rather more 

 than half-way through the strait. 



For several hours we had been coquetting with huge 

 rampant ice-masses that wildly surged about in the tideway, 

 or we dashed through boiling eddies, and sometimes almost 

 grazed the tall cliffs \ we were therefore naturally glad of a 

 couple or three hours' rest, even in such a very unsafe posi- 

 tion. At early dawn we again proceeded west, but for three 

 miles only ; the pack again stopped us, and we could per- 

 ceive that the western sea was covered with ice ; the east 

 wind, which could alone remove it, now gave place to a 

 hard-hearted westerly one. 



All the strait to the eastward of us, and the eastern sea, 

 as far as could be seen from the hill-tops, is perfectly free 

 from ice, whereas in the direction we wish to proceed there 

 is nothing but packed ice, or water which cannot be reached. 

 Bitterly disappointed we are, of course ; yet there is reason- 

 able ground for hope ; grim winter will not ratify the ob- 

 stinate proceedings of the western ice, for nearly four weeks. 



Last evening's amusement was most exciting, nor was it 

 without its peculiar perils. With cunning and activity 

 worthy of her name, our little craft warily avoided a tilting- 

 match with the stout blue masses which whirled about, as if 



