256 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
our voyage, will be perfectly convinced that our 
retrograde movement to-day is neither an inconsi- 
derate, nor a precipitate measure; on the contrary, 
I believe, the annals of navigation will produce but 
few, if any instance of such perseverance as we 
have manifested in our attempts to get to the west- 
ward along this coast, for it is now within a few 
days of twelve months since we made the east 
end of this island, a distance of very little more 
than one hundred miles. But to leave the subject 
for others to judge, I shall proceed to give an ac- 
count of any occurrences that may happen dur- 
ing our return to the eastward. ‘The wind being 
light, we made no great progress this afternoon, and 
about midnight we were stopped altogether by the 
ice; we therefore made fast as usual to some hum- 
mocks of it that were aground within a few yards 
of the beach. 
Monday, 21st.— These four or five days past 
have been very barren of events worthy of notice ; 
we are still detained at the place where we made 
fast on the night of the 16th, and if we had not 
had one year’s experience of the length of the 
summer season in these regions, we might be apt 
to suppose that the winter had already set in, for 
what little space there was of clear water when we 
made fast here, is now covered with young or 
bay-ice, as it is called, which is in general about an 
inch thick ; but in those places along shore where 
it is overshadowed by the hummocks along the 
beach, it is considerably thicker, since it does 
not dissolve in such situations during the heat of 
the day. 
