226 Off Port Bowen. 



Wednesday , July 20th. — The morning broke wet 

 and disagreeable,, with rain continuing until noon, 

 when the weather cleared up, and a strong breeze 

 sprang up from the north-west ; but in consequence 

 of the amount of loose ice in the inlet, the water 

 was comparatively smooth. Our only danger now 

 is, being caught by the ice and beset until a change 

 of wind. We have been cruising all day off and on 

 Port Bowen, Parry's winter quarters in 1824, but I 

 have been unable to get sights, as there is nothing 

 but an icy horizon. I have employed myself to-day 

 in tracing off the land as it should be on the chart, 

 and skinning birds, which is anything but a plea- 

 sant occupation. 



Friday, August 1st. — We are now cruising off 

 and on a large floe, stretching nearly from Port 

 Bowen to Batty Bay. The wind has been blowing- 

 very fresh for the last two days from the north- 

 west, which is driving the ice up the inlet at a 

 surprising pace. During the time we have been 

 1 ' hove to " off a floe some five or six miles in ex- 

 tent, it has been drifting to the southward faster 

 than we have ourselves. 



The captain has now a new idea in his head, 

 which is to follow the ice up the inlet until we reach 

 Fury Point, when we shall probably come to open 

 water, to push up the Gulf of Boothia, making- a 

 running survey of all the unknown land on its 

 eastern side, through the Fury and Hecla Straits, 



