DRIVEN CLOSE IN SHORE. 153 



and employ the mind ; and all attempt to make 

 magnetic observations, except in occasional in- 

 stances, was frustrated by the constant moving of 

 the pack. This indeed was a serious disappoint- 

 ment, as we had many experiments in view, which 

 could not have failed to be highly interesting. 



November 19th. The wind veered to the south- 

 east, and some signs were observed of water in the 

 opposite quarter, occasioned, as we knew, by the 

 motion of our own pack. The night was unusually 

 calm, yet it was apparent to every one that some 

 disturbing force was carrying us rapidly towards 

 the frowning precipices not a gun-shot distant. 

 The attention of those on deck was riveted to 

 sounds distinctly heard of breaking ice, crashing 

 and grinding with a discord the more horrible, 

 as with that exception nature was in dead re- 

 pose. When day dawned it appeared that we had 

 been driven to the westward, and close in shore, 

 where the bay ice was still in tumultuous agi- 

 tation, having been thrown up against the rocks 

 in some shelving places, to the height of thirty or 

 forty feet. After church a large party went to 

 the edge of the pack, or floe, as it was now 

 termed, and witnessed the work of destruction as 

 it went on. It was a spectacle indeed not less 

 sublime than appalling ; filling the mind with 

 awe, and at the same time inspiring it with 

 devotional gratitude to that Being whose Pro- 



