$52 cook's voyage to july, 



to stand to the northward. On the 26th of August, 

 in latitude 691°, and longitude 184°, we were ob- 

 structed by it in such quantities, as made it impossible 

 for us to pass either to the north or west, and obliged 

 us to run along the edge of it to the south south- 

 west till we saw land, which we afterward found to 

 be the coast of Asia. With the season thus far ad- 

 vanced, the weather setting in with snow and sleet, 

 and other signs of approaching winter, we abandoned 

 our enterprize for that time. 



In this second attempt we could do little more than 

 confirm the observations we had made in the first; 

 for we were never able to approach the continent of 

 Asia higher than the latitude of 67°, nor that of 

 America in any parts, excepting a few leagues be- 

 tween the latitude of 68° and 68° 20', that were not 

 seen the last year. We were now obstructed by ice 

 3° lower, and our endeavours to push farther to the 

 northward were principally confined to the mid-space 

 between the two coasts. W T e penetrated near S° far- 

 ther on the American side than on the Asiatic, meet- 

 ing with the ice both years sooner, and in greater 

 quantities on the latter coast. As w r e advanced north, 

 we still found the ice more compact and solid ; yet as 

 in our different traverses from side to side, we passed 

 over spaces which had before been covered with it, we 

 conjectured that most of what we saw was moveable. 



Its height on a medium, we took to be from eight 

 to ten feet, and that of the highest to have been six- 

 teen or eighteen. We again tried the currents twice, 

 and found them unequal, but never to exceed one 

 mile an hour. By comparing the reckoning with the 

 observations, we also found the current to set different 

 ways, yet more from the south-west than any other 

 quarter ; but whatever their direction might be, their 

 effect was so trifling that no conclusions respecting 

 the existence of any passage to the northward, could 

 be drawn from them. We found the month of July 

 to be infinitely colder than that of August. The 



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