a 
30 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
Just after the sun went down this evening, the 
sky to the northward and westward presented the 
most beautiful appearance I ever remember having” 
seen ; it is impossible for me indeed to describe it, and 
I have no doubt but the painter would find it a diffi- 
cult matter to represent it. I shall therefore only ob- 
serve, that the prevailing colour was red, of all the 
different shades, decreasing gradually from the deep- 
est, near the horizon, until in the zenith it vanished 
in a clear blue sky. And the clouds which were 
illumined by these brilliant rays, presented as great 
a diversity of shapes as there were variety of tints. 
Wednesday, 30th, —'The ice having been observed 
to open a little this morning, we availed ourselves of 
this favourable opportunity to get into clear water, 
and, by dint of perseverance in towing and warp- 
ing for about seven hours, we at length finally suc- 
ceeded in getting again into the open sea. 
I formed a piece of ice from the floe alongside of 
us this morning into a cube, whose sides measured. 
four inches and eight-tenths; and when it was put 
into a bucket of sea-water at the temperature of 31°, 
and of the specific gravity 1.023, only six-tenths 
or one-eighth of it remained above the surface of the 
water. 
Thursday, July 1st. — We have been running to 
the northward all day along the edge of the western 
ice, which extended to the westward as far as we 
could see ; and as we had a view in the afternoon of 
a considerable portion of that coast, it is probable 
that the ledge of ice we have been sailing along for 
these two days reaches the land, or at least within a 
short distance of it. To the eastward of us the sea is 
perfectly clear, with the exception of some loose 
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