1773. CONSTANTINE JOHX PHIPPS. 307 



the rest of the island by a low narrow isthmus, 

 preserves in all situations the same form, and, 

 being nearly perpendicular, it is never disguised 

 by snow:'"^ its latitude is 79° .53' N., longitude 9^* 

 59' 30" E. ; the variation of the compass was 20* 

 38' W. dip 82° i . Here they ascertained the 

 going of the pendulum, which had been adjusted 

 to vibrate seconds in London. The thermometer 

 differed veiT little at noon and at midnioht beins: 

 582° at the former and 51° at the latter. . On the 

 16th, the weather being fine and clear, the ther- 

 mometer in the shade rose, by exposure to the sun 

 for a few minutes, from 49° to 893°, and remained 

 so for some time, till a small breeze springing up 

 made it fall 10° almost instantly. 



Again on the 1 8th the ships stood to the east- 

 ward, along the edge of the ice ; but were for a 

 third time stopped about the same place, by 

 finding the ice locked in Avith the land, without 

 any passage either to the northward or the east- 

 ward. There were small openings, however, into 

 one of which they proceeded as far as 80° 34'. 

 For the fourth time Captain Phipps made an at- 

 tempt to get to the eastw^ard ; passed Moffen 

 Island, and in working among loose ice proceeded 

 as far to the northward, on the 27th, as 80° 48' by 

 the reckoning, when they were stopped by the 

 main body of the ice, which extended in a line 



* A Voyage towards the North Pole, p. 44. 



X 2 



