Cupl. I'urry's k'oyage oj' Discovery. 381 



back into clear water. They were now near the middle of the 

 narrowest part of Davis's Straits, and iiad the 'opportunity of 

 confirming the accuracy of that celebrated and able navigator. 

 Streams of the purest water were often found iiowing from the 

 icebergs; and from this time to the end of the voyage, snow-water 

 was exclusively made use of on board the ships for every purpose. 

 During the summer months it was found in abundance in pools, 

 upon the floes and icebergs ; and in the winter, snow was dissolved 

 in the copper for their daily consumption. On the 20th of Julv, 

 the ships crossed a stream of ice, of which the breadth scarcely 

 exceeded three hundred yards, and which occupied tiiem con- 

 stantly for five hours. The next day they drifted towards an 

 iceberg, which was one hundred and forty feet high, and which, 

 from the soundings made near it, must have been a-ground in 

 one hundred and twenty fathoms, so that its wiiole height was 

 about eight hundred and sixty feet. Of this iceberg Captain 

 Parry gives a view, which is awfully grand, from a sketch by 

 Lieutenant Beechey. In the course of the voyage they frequently 

 had to saw through masses of ice ; but they sometimes ran rlirough 

 ' bav-floes, which were from four to six inches thick, ploughing 

 up the ice before the ship's stem, at the rate of five miles an 

 hour. 



' If they were not very broad, the Hecla did not lose her way 

 in passing through them. Frequently, however, she was stopped 

 in the middle, which made it necessary to saw and break the ice 

 a-head. till she made another start, and, having run a short di- 

 stance in clear water, was again imbedded in the same manner. 

 We (says the author) passed one field of ice about ten feet in 

 thickness and many miles in length, as we could not see over it 

 from the mast head.' 



On the 28th of July, the ships had passed every impediment 

 which obstructed their passage into Sir James Lancaster's Sound. 

 The breadth of the barrier of ice, which occupies the middle of 

 Baffin's Bay, and which had never before been crossed in this 

 latitude at the same season, was eighty miles in a N. ()3° W. di- 

 rection. Captain Parry expresses it as his opinion, that, by taking 

 advantage of everv little opening that is afforded, a strong built 

 vessel, of proper size and weight, may, in most seasons, be pushed 

 through this barrier. Sir James Lancaster's Sound was now ojien 

 to the westward, and the two best months in the year, for the 

 navigation of these seas, were yet to como. 



On the 1st of August Captain Parry entered Lancaster Siunid, 

 which has obtained much celebrity from the very opposite opi- 

 nions which have been held with regard to it. To him it was 

 particularly interesting, as being the point to which his instruc- 

 tions more particularly dircctcrl his attention. On the 2(1, they 



sounded 



