CHAP.V.] IMPROVING PROSPECTS. 249 



westerly wind, there seemed every probability of 

 our soon reaching. In fact, had it not been for 

 the uncertainty respecting our being nipped, and 

 the apprehension that the whole frame-work 

 would, by constant repetition, get daily weaker, 

 nothing could be more desirable, or, as far as I 

 could judge, more favourable for my intention of 

 trying the passage by Sir Thomas Roe's Wel- 

 come, than our gradual approach towards Sea- 

 horse Point. How far the ship might be battered 

 by floating ice, and cross tides or currents, when 

 within the influence of Fox's Channel, the 

 Strait, and Hudson's Bay, not to mention the 

 races and strong sets of the Welcome, was a 

 consideration which I did not choose to dwell 

 upon ; satisfied that if we once got into open 

 water, the difficulties generally encountered on 

 such occasions would assuredly be overcome. 



The ice within us was considerably more rent 

 by every fresh pressure, though that on the north- 

 east side, which sometimes served as a bulwark of 

 defence, and at others as an engine of attack, 

 remained, together with an adjoining part of our 

 old floe, the most imposing piece around. There 

 was one fact, however, as evident as it was new 

 and satisfactory, namely, that the aspect of the 

 ice originally forming our floe, — the very solid 

 properties of which we had so disagreeably 

 tested in our serious nip of last September, — was 



