A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 173 



but this caution springs from experience alone, as the 

 water about the flaw, particularly if the ship lie on the 

 sheltered side, erroneously named the windward, is usually 

 very tranquil. Then, unless the utmost care be taken. 



of wind in these seas is imperative, as the progress of the most ex- 

 perienced navigator must be otherwise baffled perpetually, and the pur- 

 poses of his voyage embarrassed with difficulty, doubt and danger. 



At an early hour this morning the zenith was enriched by an 

 elegant display of cirrus, in comoid, streaked, waved and minutely 

 dotted form, all which underwent a complete and hasty dissolution, 

 by a wind from the N. leaving a thin whey-coloured mist at a very 

 great elevation : procellai'ia glaciahs, colymbus troile and glocitans : 

 the water deep brown, with greenish liue, reflecting purple when 

 turned up in wave ; this latter colour may proceed from the fragments 

 of the frail medusa pileus, which is hereabouts in vast number. 



June 20: ther. 32°, 37°, 32°: wind N.E., fresh breeze: cirro- 

 stratus at a great elevation overclouding the welkin : at noon calm 

 and clear : comoid cirrus, and cirrocumulus, tlie former indicating a 

 wind from S. W. : the calm was succeeded soon Iiy a dense dry fog 

 from the westward with Ught variable winds fi'om that quarter : a 

 steady fresh breeze from S.W. sprung up afterwards, when the fog 

 cleared away, and the ship was ascertained to be in the latitude of 

 the Mallegat, which is a short rocky sound between Disko and 

 Hare Island : colymbus troile and larus maximus : the latter 

 solitary. 



June 21 : ther. 32°, 46°, 36°: wind S.W., light breeze: morning 



