68 YELLOW-COLOURED SNOW. 





masses. Baffin's Island was yet in sight, about 

 twenty-four miles off; but we had drifted a little 

 to the north of it. I may remark here, that 

 having procured some of the yellow-coloured 

 snow, it was found to be caused by innumerable 

 small grains of earth ; a convincing proof that 

 the immense quantity passed must have been in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the shore, and 

 had, in all probability, drifted down from the 

 north. 



No other alteration occurred during the day 

 than the setting of the whole body of ice to the 

 eastward, though at too moderate a rate to carry 

 us far away ; but about 3 h of the morning of 

 August 25th, the masses around us seemed 

 something more apart ; and after some warping, 

 which brought us to the edge of a floe, where, as 

 is generally the case, the ice was less pressed 

 together, we made sail, and " bored" through 

 towards the south-west, in the hope of getting 

 nearer to Southampton Island. The wind, how- 

 ever, on which we depended, veered more to 

 the eastward, and at the same time becoming 

 lighter, allowed the ice to pack again ; so that, 

 after many fruitless trials, we were forced to 

 desist, and soon lost all traces of water. The 

 weather was and had been for some days past 

 extraordinarily fine ; the thermometer at mid- 

 day being 42° + , in the sun, and 36° + , in the 



