340 



DiscovEiuEs Of M^G and 



winter, in order to resume the object of the expe- 

 dition in the following spring* Accordingly on 

 the 6th of INIarch, 1 7^7, he again set sail, but fell 

 in with nothing but immense masses of ice, float* 

 ing about in all directions; and, the ship having 

 sprung a leak, he was obliged to seek a port of 

 Iceland, where he arrived on the 23d of April. 

 Here he gained some intelligence concerning the 

 ice, being informed that the quantity during 

 the last two years had been greater th-an usual. 

 He again set sail on the 8th of May with two 

 small vessels, one of which was under the com- 

 mand of Lieutenant Rothe. On the 17th May 

 they came in sight of the land on the eastern 

 coast of Greenland, being thea in latitude GS"" 15' 

 58", longitude 34° 47'. At the same time they 

 were surrounded by ice-islands, and it was re- 

 marked that, on that and on the following day, 

 the current ran from south northerly, which was 

 the more extraordinary as it had been considered 

 to run invariably in the contrary direction. But 

 they were then in a large bay formed by the icCp 

 which extended to the distance of thirty miles or 

 more from the shore, without the smallest open- 

 ing. In short, Egcde observes that he had never 

 before met with so much ice. He entered this 

 bay of ice, which was at least forty miles in 

 depth. On the 18th he approached the ice as 

 close as was possible in order to get a near view of 

 the coasti He was then about thirty miles from 



