40 VOYAGE OUTWARD. 



curately laid down upon the chart, which is serious, as it is 

 the great beacon for the Avhale ships going to the northward. 

 The upper strata of the rock of Reef Koll bear the appear- 

 ance of basaU deeply tinged with iron : lower down it 

 deepens to greenish blue, Avith an irregularity, but sharp- 



accumulated to the sight as if cumulostratus, but is not such : in the 

 coui'se of the forenoon sailed amongst several str-eams of ice : this sea 

 is called by the whalers " the South West Country : " phoca vitulina, 

 one ; P. hispida, two ; and P. maculata, one, killed on the ice : in 

 afternoon, some slight nimbus having formed, some snow fell : wind 

 in E. by S. increased to a gale in the niglit, and after midnight fell to a 

 calm. 



April 24 : ther. 34°, 42°, 33° : wind S., strong breeze : atmosphere 

 filled with light milky haze : patclics of brown cin'ostratus : this sea 

 lies east of the entrance to Hudson's Bay : a heavy swell from the S.E. 



April 25: ther. 33°, descending to Id-Jr" • wind N. N.E., strong- 

 gale : snow falling thick, light and soft : fucus palmatus drifted past : 

 many lairds around : three small islands seen, and rocks over which 

 the sea broke with fury : the fucus warned the people of this danger : 

 the atmosphere so dense with cloud as to prevent a view of land : 

 at noon an observation being taken lat. 64° 24' N. proved the 

 islands seen to be to the northward of Baal's River mouth, a most 

 dangerous coast, as a great indraught is known about the entrance 

 to that river, and against which mariners are constantly cautioned : * 



* It is thought the " London," a whale ship, was lost somewhere about thia 

 dreadful coast. 



