218 Prevailing Fogs. 



are going back, as if the sun shows itself to-morrow 

 I shall be able to complete a very fair plan of the 

 anchorage. 



Wednesday, July 23rd. — At midnight last night 

 we made fast to the land ice in Elwyn Inlet, and 

 immediately had all the men and boats away water- 

 ing ship, the water, pure and fresh, running down 

 the sides of the cliff into our casks. So expedi- 

 tiously was this duty performed, that by 5 a.m. we 

 had received over twenty tons of water, and taken 

 our departure from the inlet, without giving me a 

 chance of getting any observations, the weather 

 still remaining thick and foggy, the wind having 

 fallen, or to use a whaling phrase, " taken off." 

 We pushed through the loose brashy ice, and made 

 fast to the main pack across Admiralty Inlet, where 

 we are now patiently waiting, with a couple of boats 

 " on the bran," for any fish that may be unwise 

 enough to approach within sight. The ice is from 

 five to seven feet in thickness, but with a change of 

 wind it will quickly break up. 



Saturday, July 26th. — A wet, thick, foggy, and 

 unpleasant day. We are cruising about along the 

 floe edge, still in Admiralty Inlet ; but the weather 

 is decidedly against our fishing, irrespective of a fresh 

 north-westerly breeze, which raises an unpleasant 

 tumble of a sea. I succeeded in obtaining a little 

 " snow-flake " this morning, which forms another 

 important addition to my ornithological collection. 



