160 ACCOUNT OF THE AKCTIC KEGIONSf. 



and were marked with curvilinear striae from top to 

 bottom. 



I left my ship (the Esk of Whitby,) at three quar- 

 ters past one in the morning, accompanied by Cap- 

 tains Jackson and Bennet, whose ships were near at 

 the time, and landed at half-past two, amidst a consi- 

 derable surf, on a beach coveredwith coarse black sand. 

 This sand, which consisted of a very thick bed, oc- 

 curred through an extent of two or three miles in 

 length, and about a furlong in breadth. It was a 

 mixture of iron-sand, augite and pyroxene *. The 

 black parts, which were very heavy, and readily at- 

 tracted by the magnet, had an appearance exactly 

 resembling coarse gunpowder. 



This beach was the first place from Cape North- 

 east, four leagues distant, vs^here the coast seemed as 

 we passed it, to be at all accessible. Great Wood 

 Bay was immediately to the westward of us, and 

 Cape South-east, about five miles distant to the 

 eastward. 



After a few feet rise, forming a sea-bank of black 

 sand, the strand proceeded inland, on a horizontal 

 level for about a fourth of a mile, where it was ter- 



* This latter substance^ which was mistaken for olivine, 

 was pronounced by Dr Wollaston, to whom a specimen was 

 given by the Reverend Dr Satterthwaite, to be pyroxene.^ 

 (Annals of Philosophy, by Dr Thomson, vol. xi. p. 195^, Paper 

 by Dr D. Clarke.) 



