118 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. August 



lee of the pressure, and these occasionally would have 

 permitted the ship to cross the channel, had I wished 

 to do so. A similar occurrence took place with the 

 north running tide ; therefore, under a favourable com- 

 bination of circumstances, a vessel might be navigated 

 from the neighbourhood of Lincoln Bay to Newman 

 Bay. 



Our enforced delay within sight of the ' Discovery,' 

 when the season was slipping away so quickly, was 

 most provoking. Naturally there was no want of 

 watchers at the masthead or on shore looking 

 anxiously for a chance of proceeding northward. 

 Light north-east winds prevailed, with clouds resting 

 low on the hill-sides, but a clear sky showed over the 

 eastern land. The pack in the channel continued to 

 move to the south-westward in a compact body, except 

 during the height of the ebb-tide, when it was either 

 stationary or set slowly to the north-east. The dif- 

 ferent floes of which the pack was composed remained 

 fairly quiet in juxtaposition, except when passing a 

 prominent point ; then a momentary disturbance would 

 take place, pools of water would form under the lee 

 of the point until the accumulated pressure behind the 

 floe forced it past the obstruction at more or less 

 expense to its corners ; the water-space was then 

 quickly occupied by ice and all would quiet down 

 again. I did not know it at the time, but this ice 

 must have been carried up Lady Franklin Sound, 

 which previous to our arrival had been emptied by a 

 south-west wind. On ascending the hill at 9 a.m., of 

 the 27th, about the time of high-water, the ice was 

 observed moving off from Cape Murchison, but before 



