A NORTH-W^ST PASSAGE. 203 



to the ship which struck the male whale was dashed to 

 pieces by a jerk of the tail : the men were however saved 

 by a boat which happened to be near. The female died 

 at the bottom, and, on being hauled up with the line, the 

 under jaw was covered with yellow mud. 



The weather during the early part of the 15th of July, 

 equalled in fineness that experienced in the temperate 

 latitudes at the same date, the sun-light being exceedingly 

 strong : a slight mist came on just before noon, but soon 

 cleared away. The ship laid too near the flaw edge, 

 afforded a very distinct view of the islands, which, as the 

 accounts of the most experienced navigators inform me, 

 have not been seen before. I therefore presume to give 

 them the name of the Linnaean Isles, in honour of the 

 prince of natural historians. 



The atmosphere, at noon, being obscured by a fog, 

 which advanced from the eastward, presented an observa- 

 tion. The mist in the afternoon appearing rather shallow, 

 the upper atmosphere being mostly clear, I was induced 

 to ascend to the hurricane house, in hopes of seeing the 

 land more satisfactorily, when a phenomenon of novel 

 character presented itself to view. As the reader may 

 desire to have an account of this appearance, the figure 

 in Plate XVIII. will give a good idea of it, taken from a 

 sketch drawn at the moment. 



The sun-light falling on the mist formed an ellipsis 

 2 D 2 



