Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 307 



crowded with shrimps and other sea-insects, prin- 

 cipally the Clio Borealis and Argonauta Arctica, 

 on which numerous birds were feeding. This was 

 the 11th of August; on the morning of which the 

 first sound of the swell was heard under the hollow 

 margins of the ice, and in a quarter of an hour we 

 reached the open sea, which was dashing with heavy 

 surges against the outer masses. " We hauled our 

 boats," says Parry, " upon one of these, to eat our 

 last meal upon the ice." They were now fifty miles 

 distant from Table Island, which they reached 

 about noon, and found that the bears had devoured 

 all the bread, which occasioned a remark among 

 the men, that " Bruin was only square with us." 

 Captain Parry's observation on finally quitting the 

 ice, after taking up his abode upon it for forty-eight 

 days, was, " I cannot describe the comfort we expe- 

 rienced in once more feeling a dry and solid foot- 

 ing." Of the forty-eight days, thirty-three were 

 passed on the outward, and fifteen on the return 

 voyage ; such is the difference between going with 

 the stream and against it. 



Table Island, however, afforded no place for the 

 men to rest. So rugged and inhospitable is this 

 northern rock, that not a single spot was found 

 where the boats could be hauled up. To the islet 

 lying off Table Island, which, Parry says, " is inter- 

 esting, as being the northernmost known land upon 

 the globe, I have applied the name of Lieutenant 



x 2 



