40 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. July 



refused to move until almost touched by the ships, 

 then they dived in company, propelling themselves 

 under water with great rapidity, all the individuals 

 in a flock coming to the surface again at the same 

 moment. In the ' Middle Ice ' we observed a bear, a 

 walrus, two species of seals ( Phoca grcenlandica) and 

 {Phoca hispida) ; amongst the birds many fulmars, a 

 few ivory gulls (Pagophila eburned), a single dovekie 

 (Uria grylle), some guillemots, and a diver (Colymbus). 

 The water was filled with a quantity of diatomaceous 

 brown flocculent matter, which was also incorporated 

 in the floes ; this dark substance, absorbing the sun's 

 rays, exerts a very potent influence during summer 

 in the destruction of Baffin's Bay ice. 



At 9.30 a.m. of the 25th we sighted the high land 

 about Cape York, and at 11 o'clock, when forty-five 

 miles directly south of that cape, we were fairly in the 

 1 North Water,' having passed through the ' Middle 

 Ice ' in thirty-four hours. Although we made so suc- 

 cessful a voyage through a locality justly dreaded by 

 experienced ice-navigators, the conclusion must not 

 be hastily arrived at that a similar passage can always 

 be commanded. Had a strong breeze set in while 

 we were amongst the ice we should have been beset 

 in the pack and, at the very least, delayed for several 

 days. 



By good observations at noon we found that we 

 had been set eleven miles to the west-north-west ; 

 but our frequent change of course, and adopting the 

 most western of any two leads otherwise equally good, 

 may have given rise to some of the difference between 

 the position by log and that by observation. 



