Mat, 1858. UNUSUAL POSITION OF ICE. 119 



they give of last season is as follows : the 

 whalers reached Devil's Point, near Melville 

 Bay, as early as 21st May; southerly winds 

 then set in, and blew incessantly for six weeks, 

 during all which time they were closely beset, 

 and the ships ' Gripsy ' and ' Undaunted ' were 

 crushed. When able to move, the fleet returned 

 southward along the " pack-edge," which was 

 everywhere found to be impenetrable ; they 

 sailed southward of Disco, and about the middle 

 of July the earliest ships rounded the southern 

 extremity of the middle ice in lat. 68^°, and 

 found no difficulty in their further passage 

 to Pond's Bay. Captain Walker says ships could 

 not have reached Lancaster Sound, as there 

 was much ice north of Pond's Bay which 

 he thought extended quite across *to Melville 

 Bay. 



The position of the ice last season was con- 

 sidered to be most unusual ; the long prevalence 

 of southerly winds appeared to have separated 

 the tail of the pack from the main body, the 

 former lying against the west land about Cape 

 Searle, whilst the latter was forced northward 

 and pressed closely into Melville Bay ; the ships 

 sailed freely between these two great divisions, 

 and found the west water unusually extensive. 



Had I been able to collect a sufficient number 



