324 DISCOVERIES OF 177^- 



three hundred pounds each. The sea was now 

 clear of ice until he came opposite to Davis's 

 Cape of God's Mercy, when an immense field of 

 ice appeared in sight, along which he continued 

 to sail for upwards of fifty miles. On the 3d 

 August, being then in latitude 65° SY, he first be- 

 gan to perceive his error in the navigation of 

 Davis's Strait: " This day," he says, "has wafted 

 us faster than we have ever gone since we entered 

 these calm and foggy straits, for, upon an average, 

 we have gone no more northerly than twelve miles 

 a day since we have entered them. I now see the 

 reason of our slow progress, which has been the 

 keeping too near the land ; therefore, as I design 

 to discover sea and not land, I shall direct my way 

 mid'Chaiwel, as near as my poor simple judgment 

 will direct me, hoping for God's blessing, with my 

 own endeavours.""*^ Accordingly, he made a dis- 

 tance of seventy-seven miles that day, and reached 

 the latitude of 66^ 53\ — but, notwithstanding this 

 favourable commencement of the new plan which 

 he was determined to adopt, the very next day all 

 his resolution seems to have forsaken him, and 

 we find him thus expressing himself. " At twelve, 

 having passed a number of the highest ice-islands 

 I ever saw, and meeting with many more, bigger 

 and bigger, and every hour visibly increasing 

 their number, with a very heavy sea from the 

 southward and a hard gale, the nights growing 



* M.S. Jouniiil. 



