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66 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA.. August 



Island had evidently been formed in the neighbour- 

 hood during the previous winter, and being in one 

 unbroken sheet, the water must have been clear of 

 ice-pieces when the autumn frost set in. It was now 

 very rotten, had lately broken away from the shore, 

 and was only waiting for a westerly wind to carry it 

 off into Smith Sound. 



As we advanced under the lee of the land the 

 wind died away, and rendered steam necessary. We 

 then ran quickly to the north-west along a slightly in- 

 dented coast-line, passing Cocked-hat Hill, a very con- 

 spicuous landmark, situated on an island close to the 

 shore. The hills on the north coast of Ellesmere Land 

 are abrupt and rugged, rising to a height of 1,200 to 

 1,500 feet, with glaciers here and there descending to 

 the sea. By 9 a.m., we arrived at the end of the water- 

 channel, where the ice stretching completely across the 

 strait effectually blocked any further advance. Bam- 

 ming the ships into the rotten ice, we endeavoured 

 to form temporary docks ; but as fast as we pushed our 

 way into the floes their sides split up. 



After waiting about an hour, a narrow channel 

 opened close along shore, through which a push was 

 made with only an inch or two of spare water under the 

 ships' keels. We then gained a large water-space which 

 carried us a few miles farther up the gulf, but then 

 the ice, locked in by the Weyprecht Islands, formed 

 a barrier. To the southward of us we had opened a 

 long fiord, entirely free of ice, running to the S.W., 

 about eight miles in depth and three and a half in 

 width. Snow-capped hills upwards of 2,000 feet high 

 with steep cliffs formed the shores of the fiord ; glaciers 



