OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 261 



wards to thirty-five no l)ottom, at the distance of a mile and three qiiar- ^^-^• 

 ters from the land. Very little snow was now lying upon the ground, and vJ»-v-v. 

 numerous streams of water rushing down the hills, and sparkling in the beams 

 of the morning sun, relieved in some measure the melancholy stillness which 

 otherwise reigned on this desolate shore. At three A.M., we had sailed as 

 near the end of the open water as we could safely venture, though in a sea 

 without so strong a tide-way we might still perhaps have threaded a passage 

 through the ice some miles farther. Here however it was indispensably ne- 

 cessary if possible to secure the ships before the strength of the flood-tide 

 should come on, and we accordingly hauled in-shore for that purpose. The 

 land along which Ave had been sailing was that from which the ice had been 

 principally detached, so that we had doubts of finding cither the means of 

 holding fast or any security from driving on shore. On sending the boats to 

 examine the soundings, however, both were fortunately discovered, there 

 being abreast of the ships a number of heavy insulated masses of ice lying- 

 aground*, Avith small but sufficient patches of the land-floe Avithiu them 

 still adhering to the beach. We here made fast in six fathoms, about a 

 hundred yards from the shore, and were not sorry to obtain a little rest, as 

 well as a temporary cessation from anxiety respecting the immediate safety 

 of the ships. It Avas low Avater by the shore at fifty minutes past nine A.M., 

 having fallen tAVo feet in one hour and ten minutes. 



After noon Ave landed to take a Avalk, and found the mineralogical cha- 

 racter of this part of the coast nearly the same as before, the rocks being 

 composed of greyish gneiss Avith fragments of granite, quartz, mica-slate, 

 some iron-pyrites, and most of the odier substances observed at Winter- 

 Island, lying scattered on the surface. Many of the stones found in the 

 streams Avere coated with a thin crust of the oxide of iron. There Avas no 

 absolute want of vegetation, many considerable patches occurring entirely 

 covered with moss, grass, and other plants ; but the Avhole of these Avcre in a 

 remarkably backAvard state, the saxifraga oppo.sitifolia being, I believe, the only 

 one as yet in flower. The andromeda tetragona Avas here very abundant, and 

 numerous tufts of sorrel Avere just putting forth their first red leaves. A 

 number of rein-deer Avere seen, but they proved too Avild for us, and birds 

 Avere unusually scarce. Captain Lyon picked up an Esquimaux lamp, curious 



* These for distinction's sake we were in the habit of calHng " berop,"' thoiifjh we saw none 

 of the immense bodies properly so called, after reacliing about the middle of Hudson's Strait. 



