140 FREE FROM THE ICE, Chap. VIII. 



dirty red, very like the stain of port wine : 

 very few patches of it were found. 



Last night a westerly wind blew freshly and 

 dispersed the ice outside of ns, so much so that 

 this evening we have got out into almost clear 

 water. Farewell, Greenland, — hurrah for the 

 west ! 



bth. — After getting free from the ice off the 

 Crimson Cliffs, we soon lost sight of the last 

 fragment, and steered for Pond's Bay. And 

 now we all set to work in zealous haste to write 

 our last letters for England, by the whalers, 

 which we hoped soon to meet there. 



After running 60 miles the ice reappeared, 

 and we sailed through a vast deal of it, but it 

 became more closely packed, and a thick fog 

 detained us for a day. 



When the weather became clear, the main 

 pack was seen to the W., S., and S.E. ; in 

 the hope of rounding its northern extreme we 

 ran along it to the N.W. To-day it has led 

 us to the N. and N.E., so that this evening 

 "Wolstenholme Sound is in sight. To the N. the 

 pack appears impenetrable, and there is a strong 

 ice-blink over.it. All the ice we have lately 

 sailed through is loose, and much decayed ; it 

 seems but recently to have broken away from 

 the land, is not water-washed, neither has it 



