76 WATER SKY. 



set the sky became clear, and Baffin Island was 

 seen bearing N. 87° W., and a hill on Southamp- 

 ton Island S. 41° W. ; a water sky * too was re- 

 ported to the south-west, but scarcely succeeded 

 in again cheating us into hope. The night was 

 more than ordinarily cold, for the temperature 

 of the air was only 19° + , and that of the water 

 23° + : an omen as gloomy as unlooked for at 

 this early season, when Sir E. Parry, in the 

 same latitude, was enjoying almost the warmth 

 of summer. But the startling fact could not be 

 concealed from ourselves, that the rigour of a 

 precocious winter was thrust upon us, at the 

 moment when we were almost in sight of our 

 port. 



* Produced by the dark vapour from the water, and used 

 in opposition to " ice-blink." 



