JOURNAL. 



29 



2 2d. Calm moft part of the day; rainy ami rather J""^. 

 cold in the evening. At noon obferved the dip to be 



77° 52'. 



2 3d. Very foggy all day ; the wind fair ; altered the 

 courfe and fleered N E and E N E, to get more into the 

 mid channel, and to avoid falling in with the Weflern 

 ice, which, from the increalmg coldnefs of the weather, 

 we concluded to be near. At feven o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, being by our reckoning to the Northward of 72°, we 

 faw a piece of drift wood, and a fmall bird called a Red- 

 poll. Dip obferved at nine in the evening to be 



80 / 

 1 30. 



24th. Very foggy all the morning ; the wind came 

 round to the Northward. The dip obferved at noon 

 was 80° 35'. In the afternoon^ the air much colder than 

 we had hitherto felt it ; the thermometer at 34°. A fire 

 ^lade in the cabin for the firft time, in latitude 73° 40'^ 



25th. Wind Northerly, with a great fwell ; fome 

 fnow, but in general clear. At eight in the morning, 

 the longitude obferved by the watch was 7" 15' E. Made 

 feveral obfervations on the variation, which we found, by 

 thofe taken at feven in the morning, to be 17° 9' W; 

 by others at three in the afternoon, only 7° 47' W. I 

 could not account for this very fudden and extraorainary 



decreafe,, 



