OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 319 



half from the hio;li ruffffcd land of the continent to the south, and a mile and ^^^^' 



. . . . August. 



three-quarters from the island, which is comparatively low. Some sea-water •-^-v-v,' 



taken up from the surface in passins: through the narrows, was found by Mr. 

 Fisher to be of the specific gravity 1.0263, at the temperature of 52°. 



The wind being light and variable on the 27th, two boats were sent to the Tues. 27, 

 island and two to the main-land by way of examining the natural productions, . 

 of which I shall have occasion to speak more fully hereafter. Specimens of 

 every thing noticed were brought on board by our gentlemen, and the fol- 

 lowing remarkable observations made on the tides, the first being Lieutenant 

 Reid's report on the main-land, and the second that of IMr. Henderson's on 

 the island : " The tide was found to ebb by the shore from thirty minutes 

 past nine till thirty minutes after eleven A.M., the fall being four inches. 

 From thirty minutes past eleven to fifteen minutes after noon it rose one inch, 

 and then fell four inches till two P.M., when the boat left the shore. "^ 

 " Landing on the island at twenty minutes past nine A.M. the tide was ob- 

 served to fall six inches till thirty minutes past eleven, from which time till 

 noon it rose an inch and a half, then ebbed eight inches till thirty minutes 

 after two P.M." The tide, being tried in the offing by the small boat moored 

 to the bottom, was found to set as follows : 



Between seven and eight P.M. the loose ice began to leave the floe edge, 

 and to drift against a light wind to the eastward. By these and our subse- 

 quent obscrs^ations on the tides in this part of the Strait, it seems apparent 

 that the phenomena, both of the stream and of the rise and fall of the water, 

 are the joint effects of a tide and a current, the latter in general setting to the 

 eastward at this season. 



The weather being warm, a sensible alteration was produced in the ap- 

 j>earance of the ice in the course of the day, and we could not now co«nmu- 

 nicate between the two ships by walking over the floe, without the jissist- 

 ance of planks. This circumstance encouraged me once more to attempt 

 getting the ships through it to the westward, by employing the method of 

 sawing and sinking, though where this labour was to end it was not easy to 

 guess, as our parties on shore had not been able to discover from the hills 

 any indication of open water in that direction. The saws and other geer 



