VIEW OF THE COUNTRY. 347 



rocky bluff about ten miles to the northward, but 

 receding thence to an indistinct outline ; the 

 southward view offered nothing more encourag- 

 ing, for the shore in that direction was low and 

 distant ; while to the eastward, which was mani- 

 festly our course, a black line, supposed to be 

 water, just bordered the horizon. The whole of 

 this expanse was sealed with ice ; and with the 

 exception of a lane of open water from our en- 

 campment to a sand-hill in the south-west, and 

 some small holes too remote from each other to 

 serve any purpose, there was not a place that 

 could with any certainty be fixed on as afford- 

 ing a passage. Nevertheless the attempt was 

 made the next morning a little past 3 a. m. ; and 

 though without the slightest idea of getting 

 beyond the sand-hill, I directed the steersman 

 to pull for it : in doing which we soon lost all 

 traces of the current. The lane grew narrower as 

 we proceeded, until there was barely room for the 

 boat to pass with the poles. The ice here, far from 

 being decayed, was two feet thick, green, and 

 compact, and gave ominous token of what was in 

 reserve for us farther north. 



Having; arrived at our Ultima Thule, we 

 ascended the highest hill near; but only to 

 see one wide and dazzling field of ice extending 

 far away in every direction, and presenting a 

 uniform bed of sharp and ragged points, that 

 would have ground the keel to powder had we 



