304 SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



n'2'i. rpj^^ gjjj g ijeinop close to the odnrc of the floe in the evening, I directed 

 ^-'^^*-' them to be made fast; but the boat that went to make holes for the ice- 

 anchor*;, returning with the information that the ice was in too " rotten" a state 

 to hold them, we ran tlie ships into the floe under all sail, where they easily 

 made a dock for themselves, and remained quietly for the niglit, which 

 proved extremely fine and clear. A number of shrimps, ccliiiii, and other 

 marine insects were brought up in a net from the bottom. 

 Sat. 10. Some water brought up on the 10th from a <lepth of forty fathoms was at 

 the temperature of 32°, that of the surface being the same, and of the at- 

 mosphere 40°. In the evening we made sail and ran along the margin of the 

 ice, and soon after had the satisfaction of observing that another large floe 

 was just on the point of being detached. On arriving at its northern end, 

 we found that it still wanted a little to complete the separation, and with a 

 view of aj)i)lying the requisite force, or at least all that we had at our dis- 

 posal, the ships were made fast to it by several hawsers, and all their sails 

 set aback, tlie wind blowing fresli from the westward. This expedient soon 

 produced the desired effect ; the floe I)eginning lo disjoin in less than ten 

 minutes, and the whole of it then drifting away at the rate of a mile and a 

 half an hour, so that at midnight we were enabled to cast oflp and make sail 

 to windward of it. 



This last disruption, while it gave us another short step to the westward, 

 allowed us also to approach Neerlo-Nakto as lu'ar as the sounding-;, which arc 

 here quite shoal, would j)crmit ; and at noon on the lltli we made the ships 

 fast to the ice in eight fathoms, on a bottom of small lime-stones, and went 

 on shore to examine the productions of the island, and obtain a more exten- 

 sive view of the neighbouring lands. We found it to resemble Igloolik in 

 its general character, but discovering an approach to the primitive formation 

 not perceptible at the latter island, numerous large masses of granite, gneiss, 

 and quartz appearing on the surface intermixed with the fragments of lime 

 of which it is principally composed. The island is extremely low, and its 

 surface is covered with numberless small and one very large pond of fresh 

 water, the resort of black and red-throated divers and of the long-tailed 

 ducks. A large flock of brent-geese were seen, and two or three procured 

 from some of the Estpiimaux whom we found on the island, and who had 

 caught them with the simres of whalebone before described. Large flocks 

 of eider and king-ducks were also flying about ; but the natives being in the 

 habit of visiting the island for the sake of the birds and their eggs, had 



