106 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
of the old proverb, ‘ that necessity is the mother of 
invention,’ and at the same time shews under 
what circumstances we were occasionally obliged to 
prosecute our voyage. The method in question, 
then, that occurred as the only means left us by which 
to direct our course, was to keep the Griper right 
astern of us; which was her position when we shaped 
our course by the last faint view we had of the sun, 
We sounded frequently during the night, and indeed 
throughout the whole day, as a necessary precaution 
under the circumstances in which we were placed. 
The greatest depth of water we found during the whole 
day was fifty-two fathoms, and the least twenty-three 
fathoms (mud and sand). We had ice around us in 
every direction during all this period, but we never 
foundit so close at any time as to obstruct our passage ; 
and, had it not been for the state of the weather, it 
is probable that we should have found openings clear 
of it altogether. We had, in the course of the day, a 
very ¢ Poul view of the manner in which the floe-ice 
is for made ; for the surface of the water being smooth, 
the snow that fell upon it formed what is called 
sludge, which, no doubt, had the weather been a few 
degrees colder, would have become ice. In those 
places where there was a considerable portion of open 
space between the larger pieces of ice, the undul- 
ations of the surface of the water gave this sludge a 
curious variegated appearance, not unlike the painted 
imitations of blue and white marble, the sludge form- 
ing the white, and the surface of the water the blue 
part of it. 
Ever since we got amongst these low islands, it 
has been couture that very few birds, or indeed 
