TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 127 
the north side of the passage between the 86° and 
92° of west longitude, —that is, bold, and in some 
places precipitous, and the debris that fell from it 
forming buttresses in the same manner as on the coast 
alluded to. 
Friday, 17th. — We cast off again this morning, 
and stood to the westward until we came to the ice 
which we found to be nearly in the same situation 
as when we were stopped by it yesterday. It was ob- 
served to be much heavier than what we have gene- 
rally met with before, being somewhat like that 
which they describe the Greenland ice to be ; so that 
I think itis most probable, that it is not formed here, 
but drifts down from higher latitudes, or what may 
be termed the Polar Sea. 
It was packed equally as close in with the land as 
on the preceding day, so that it would be vain 
to attempt to force through it ; besides, the land, as I 
have already said, trends to the northward, a circum- 
stance which may be regarded as rather against us ; 
for were it possible even to advance between the land 
and the ice, as we have usually done, it would in the 
present instance only take us out of our way. 
We know so little, however, of what is before us, 
that it is perhaps hazarding too much to say that a 
change in the direction of the coast is to be consi- 
dered at once as an unfavourable circumstance. I 
shall therefore not dwell any longer on the subject, 
as we shall most probably have an opportunity very 
soon of determining the point in question in a more 
satisfactory manner than by conjectures. Adter 
tacking about for some time along the edge of the ice, 
we stood again to the eastward, and at six o’clock in 
