M*Keevor's Voyage to Hudson s Bay. 3 



three knots ; took in sail. About one we lay to. About half- 

 past one, P. M., we saw ice for the first time ; it appeared* in 

 the form of large detached masses. Several pieces struck the 

 vessel, and with so much violence as to awaken almost every 

 person on board. Four o'clock : the ice continues to come in 

 immense large fleaks ; the pieces are larger, but not quite so 

 numerous. Owing to the very unfavourable state of the wea- 

 ther, we could get no opportunity for making an observation ; 

 the captain, however, suspects that we are about the entrance 

 to Hudson's Straits. 



Tuesday, July the 14th. Weather still continues thick and 

 hazy ; almost a complete calm ; helm lashed. The horizon is 

 covered with numerous fleaks of ice ; on some of them we ob- 

 served a great quantity of sand and gravel. Some of these 

 masses had a greenish, while others had an azure tint ; they 

 appeared to be moving with considerable velocity. 



About five o'clock in the afternoon we saw the first island 

 of ice ; the haze of the atmosphere, along with a light drizzling 

 rain, prevented us, however, from seeing either its summit or 

 circumference distinctly. Plate II. will afford a tolerable 

 correct idea of its appearance ; it was taken by Mr. Holmes, 

 an ingenious young gentleman, who was on his way out to 

 join Lord Selkirk's party on Red River. This enormous mass 

 appeared quite stationary ; at least, I could not observe that 

 it had the slightest motion. 



Friday, July the 17tb. About six o'clock in the morning 

 the captain came down to inform us that he had seen land ; is 

 uncertain, however, where we are, not having had any oppor- 

 tunity of making an observation for some days. Is inclined to 

 think, however, that it is Resolution-Island.f 



About nine o*clock we got within a short distance of it ; it 

 had a most cheerless, dreary appearance, being for the most 



* In clear weather a curious appearance, to which seamen have given the 

 name of the Ice-blhik, is observed on approaching the ices. It consists of 

 a lucid streak spread along that part of the atmosphere which is next the 

 horizon. It is evidently occasioned by the reflection of the rays of light 

 which fall on the surface of the ice into the superincumbent air. Not unfre- 

 quently they afford a beautiful map or picture of the ice for a considerable 

 distance, resembling, in this way, the curious atmospherical phenomenon 

 to -which naturalists have given the name of the Mirage. Field-ice, Mr. 

 Scoresby informs us, affords the most lucid blink, accompanied with a tinge 

 of yellow: that of packs is more peculiarly white, and of bay-ice greyish. 

 The land, from its snowy covering, likewise occasions a blink, which is 

 yellowish, and not unlike that produced by the ice of fields. 



t Resolution Island is situated on the N. side of the entrance into Hud- 

 son's Straits ; it is considered to be about sixty miles in circumference, N. 

 !at 61 40' W. long. 65. 



B2 



