July, 1858, OFF LANCASTEIl SOUND. 145 



soon found that our clear water terminated near 

 Cape Warrender. Lancaster Sound, altliough 

 not frozen over, was crammed full of floes and 

 icebergs. The wind increased to a strong gale 

 from the east, and pressed in more ice. At 

 length the ship was with difficulty made fast 

 to a strip of land-ice a few miles westward of 

 Point Osborn. Gradually the gale subsided, 

 but not until the pack was close in against the 

 land. The tides kept sweeping it to and fro, to 

 our great discomfort. The land is composed of 

 gneiss, and the gravelly shore is low. A few 

 ducks only have been shot, and traces of rein- 

 deer and hares seen. Our Melville Bay friends, 

 the rotchies, are very rare visitors upon this 

 side of Baffin's Bay. 



Part of a ship's timber has been found upon 

 the beach ; it measures 7 inches by 8 inches, is 

 of American oak, and, although sound, has long 

 been exposed to the weather. 



I. 



