TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 117 
_ aconsiderable number were seen, particularly ducks, 
~ which were noticed in small flocks along the shore, 
but they were so shy that we could not get within 
gun-shot of them; several glaucous gulls, and tern were 
also remarked, but they seemed likewise to keep at 
a greater distance than usual. A solitary seal, I be- 
lieve, was the only inhabitant of the sea seen to-day. 
Tuesday, 7th.— We weighed between four and 
five o’clock yesterday afternoon, but we had not 
been above four hours under sail when we were 
obliged to make fast to a floe, the ice being so 
close in with the land that it was impossible to force 
through it. We remained in this place until two 
o’clock this afternoon, at which time the ice being 
observed to slacken, we cast off from the floe and made 
sail ; but we had not got on more than a few miles, 
when we found ourselves again stopped by the ice. 
Our only alternative was, therefore, to secure the ships 
again to a floe close in with the land, to prevent our 
drifting to the eastward, for we found the ice, at a 
little distance from the coast, to be moving in that 
direction with considerable velocity : most probably 
fromthe action of the tide. As we were coasting along 
this afternoon, two herds of musk-oxen were seen 
grazing at the distance of about three-quarters of a 
mile from the beach. One herd consisted of nine, 
and the other of five of these cattle. Our distance 
from them was too considerable to enable us 
to have any thing of a good view. I shall, therefore, 
merely observe, that their prevailing colour was 
black, and as far as we could judge, their size was 
about equal to that of a Shetland cow. We had also 
a distant view of two rein-deer this afternoon, so that 
& 
dK 
