414 ROSS ISLAND. 



the land ; for it is a fact well known to the offi- 

 cers of both Sir John Franklin's expeditions, that 

 the absence of drift-wood was always regarded 

 as an infallible sign that we had gone astray from 

 the main, either among islands or in some such 

 opening as Bathurst's Inlet, where, by reason 

 of the set of the current, not a piece of any 

 size was found. 



August 11th. — A fresh breeze from the 

 south-west had encouraged us to hope that the 

 ice would be blown off-shore at high water ; and 

 bitter, therefore, was our disappointment at find- 

 ing that, if it moved at all, it was only to become 

 more wedged, and piled up piece upon piece. 

 The weather, however, cleared a little, and, for 

 a few minutes, the sun broke forth for the first 

 time during five days. We could now make 

 out two islands to the north, the left extremity 

 of which was named after my intrepid friend 

 Captain James Ross ; and between it and a bluff 

 bearing N. N. W., no land, nor any thing but ice, 

 could be seen. To the westward along the shore 

 where we were encamped, all was shoal, and 

 paved with ice. Two islands, however, jutted 

 out towards the southern bluff of the land, which 

 there formed a point, and was apparently one of 

 the arms embracing a bay. Progress, by any 

 contrivance, was altogether impossible ; and this, 

 I must own, began to shake the opinion I had all 



