LANE OF WATER DISCOVERED. 121 



packed than further to seaward. The specimens 

 of rocks which they brought were gneiss, with a 

 considerable mixture of red felspar. They had 

 not seen a blade of grass, nor a symptom of vege- 

 tation of any kind. No marks w r ere observed 

 on the rocks, indicating the rise and fall of the 

 tide. 



The day was clear and fine, and the land 

 beyond Cape Welsford, as well as Vansittart and 

 Baffin islands, was so much thrown up by re- 

 fraction, that had we not certainly known the 

 passage through Frozen Strait, we might have 

 concluded that we were at the entrance of some 

 deep bay or inlet. 



In the course of making some changes for 

 the more suitable accommodation of some of 

 the warrant officers, we found the roof and sides 

 of the vessel so damp, as to have contracted in 

 many parts a deposition of blue mould, caused, 

 in all probability, by the vapour from the cook's 

 copper close by. This led to a closer examina- 

 tion of other parts of the ship ; and on looking 

 narrowly at the heel of the bowsprit, it was dis- 

 covered to be sprung from the knight-heads 

 inwards six feet. How or when the injury had 

 been done it was impossible to ascertain : it was, 

 probably, the effect of the weight and strain 

 which must have been thrown upon it, whenever 

 the ship was hove suddenly aback with a slack- 



