ALONG THE COAST ON FOOT. 405 



As the day advanced, the rain fell in torrents, 

 and of course prevented the fern from burning ; 

 but a more grievous spectacle was the dull white 

 ice drifting again to the southward in melancholy 

 succession towards the channel through which 

 we had passed ; and, by the occasional gleams of 

 light which broke through the rain-charged at- 

 mosphere, we had the mortification to behold the 

 narrow line of water on which our hopes de- 

 pended gradually transformed into a compact 

 and solid field of ice. The eastern shore was 

 but once distinguishable ; and scarcely more so 

 a point much nearer to us, which has been called 

 after the Honourable Captain Duncan, with 

 whom my former friend and companion, the 

 lamented Mr. Hood, had served in his Majesty's 

 ship LifFey. Late at night the exploring party 

 returned, fagged and depressed. They described 

 the land as being low, and so swampy that at 

 each step they sank to the calf of the leg, and were 

 only prevented from going deeper by the frozen 

 earth and ice, which at that depth sustained 

 them. The day had been unfavourable for a 

 distant view ; but from a low point fifteen miles 

 off, the coast was observed to trend westerly 

 towards some high blue lands like mountains, 

 where there was an appearance of open water ; 

 but whether of the sea, or of an inland lake, the 

 atmosphere was too hazy to enable them to 



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