222 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
it was deemed to be too great an exertion to at- 
tempt this without halting, the distance at the 
narrowest part being estimated to be at least six 
or seven miles; and as the halt could not be made 
conveniently on the ice, our only alternatives were 
to rest where we were, or to go to the island men- 
tioned yesterday, which we considered to be about 
halfway across, and not lying much out of the 
direction in which we wished to go. We there- 
fore started for the island a little after five o’clock, 
and arrived there at seven. A few minutes 
after we landed there, we discovered that this large 
sheet of water, respecting which we were hitherto 
in doubt whether it were a lake or an arm of the 
sea, was actually the latter, for one of the men who 
happened to take up a pot-full of water out of a 
pool on the ice close to the beach, found that it was 
very brackish, which decided the point quite to 
our satisfaction; very little doubt, indeed, re- 
mained on our mind before, for we noticed as 
we came along hummocks of ice thrown up in 
different places on the shore, a thing which we 
could hardly suppose would happen if it was a 
lake. We found the island to be composed, like 
the adjacent hills, of sandstone, and very barren. 
It is about three-quarters of a mile in length, from 
north north-west to south south-east ; and nearly 
of the same breadth. It rises perpendicularly 
from the sea on the west side to the height of six 
or seven hundred feet, and the ascent to it, 
on every other side, is pretty steep. From the 
top there was a very good view of the gulf to 
the westward, or, in other words, towards its 
