126 MR. EAE'S EXPEDITION. Aug. 



loads of salmon, which they had speared in a rivilet that 

 falls into Pasley Cove. From these the interpreter learnt 

 that the sea ice had commenced breaking up only one day 

 before our arrival, and that they had been in company with 

 the natives of Wollaston Land during the winter, none of 

 whom had ever seen Europeans, large ships, or boats. 



"During our long and tedious detention here, several gales 

 of wind occurred, principally from the northward, but the 

 space of open water was so small that they produced little 

 effect upon the ice. Our situation was most tantalising to 

 all the party : occasionally at turn of tide a pool of water, 

 a mile or more in extent, would appear near us, and every 

 thing would be prepared for embarkation at a minute's 

 notice, in expectation of the opening increasing and per- 

 mitting us to cross to Douglas Island, but our hopes were 

 always disappointed. A number of observations were ob- 

 tained, which placed our encampment in latitude 68° 24' 

 35" N., the longitude being very nearly the same as that 

 assigned to it by Sir John Richardson and Mr. Kendall. 

 The mean variation of the compass, from eight sets of 

 azimuths, on different days, and at different hours, was 

 59° 8' 08" E., the extremes being 57° 42' and 61° 25'. 



" The ice continued driving to and fro with the tides, 

 without separating sufficiently to allow of the practicability 

 of passing among it until the 19th August, when there was 

 more open water to seaward than we had yet observed, 

 caused by a moderate southerly breeze that had been 

 blowing for the last two days. After waiting some hours 

 for a favourable opportunity of forcing our way through a 

 close-packed stream of ice that was grinding along the 

 rocks as it drove to the northward, we at last pushed off, 

 and after more than once narrowly escaping being squeezed, 

 we reached comparatively open water, where we had room 



