CONJECTURES RESPECTING THE ICE. 79 



with the land. Hitherto, indeed, every attempt 

 to approach it, since leaving Mill Islands, had 

 been thwarted by consolidated bodies of inter- 

 vening ice, but at the moment this was not 

 regarded. It was the opinion of Sir E. Parry, 

 that the ice adheres to the shores of the con- 

 tinent and Southampton Island, unless blown off 

 by a strong breeze ; and in this opinion I entirely 

 concur as applicable to the appearance of ice 

 there in ordinary seasons ; but in our case it 

 was obvious that some other explanation was to 

 be looked for of the extraordinary impediments 

 by which we had been beset. To me it seemed 

 almost certain that the great body of ice had 

 not been broken up at all in the previous year 

 1835, and that having, with the accumulations 

 of the following season, been detached from its 

 bonds by the storms of the spring, it had been 

 driven, probably by the combined action of the 

 wind and current, from the bays and harbours 

 of the north to the place where we found it. 

 That there were two distinct kinds of ice could 

 not be doubted ; since the most cursory observer 

 could not fail to remark that the one was 

 massive, old, and irregular, with huge piles tossed 

 up in picturesque confusion — the other light, 

 clean, and comparatively smooth. The time 

 too which had been consumed amidst the laby- 

 rinths of the old ice, with so trifling a change of 



