Chap. XIII. BACK'S ATTEMPT TO REACH REPULSE BAY. 489 



tenants; J. A. Mould, Surgeon; Wm. Lawes, Pay- 

 master and Purser ; Jas. Saunders, Master. 



On the 14th June, 1836, the Terror left Chatham, 

 and on the 28th July crossed Davis' Strait ; and on 

 that evening, when the weather cleared up, Back says. 

 " We observed an enormous iceberg, the perpendicu- 

 lar face of which was not less than 300 feet high." — 

 Enormous indeed : in what depth of water could it 

 be, or had it been floating? The next morning is 

 described as beautifully fine — " the tall ship with all 

 her sails set threading her graceful way through 

 the masses of ice, upon a sea as smooth as an inland 

 lake." A very different scene quickly succeeded on 

 approaching that universally-detested Resolution 

 Island, with its dense fogs, and its whirlpools, toss- 

 ing about masses of ice, sweeping the ship among 

 them, and rendering her utterly unmanageable. 

 Having got clear of all the impediments, they pro- 

 ceeded as far as the Savage Islands, where an ice- 

 berg either toppled over or parted with a large mass 

 from its summit; " and the splash in the water, the 

 foam which succeeded, and the fearful rocking of 

 the berg, before it again settled upon its base, gave 

 us some notion of danger." ; 



Near these islands a fleet of Keiyacks and Komiaks 

 hailed them, as usual, with vociferous cries of timet. 

 Back gives them the same bad character they had 

 received from Lyon and others : — " The women, in 

 particular, were more outrageous than I had ever 



