186 FOX'S HOLE. Chap. X. 



When o£f the table-land, where the depth is 

 not more than from 6 to 10 fathoms, and the 

 tides rmi strongest, the ship hardly moved over 

 the ground, although going 6i knots through 

 the water! Thus delayed, darkness overtook 

 us, and we anchored at midnight in a small 

 indentation of the north shore, christened by 

 the men Foxs Hole, rather more than half-way 

 through. 



For several hours we had been coquetting 

 with huge rampant ice-masses that wildly surged 

 about in the tideway, or we dashed through 

 boiling eddies, and sometimes almost grazed the 

 tall cliffs ; we were therefore naturally glad of 

 a couple or three hours' rest, even in such a 

 very unsafe position. At early dawn we again 

 proceeded west, but for three miles only ; the 

 pack again stopped us, and we could perceive 

 that the western sea was covered with ice ; the 

 east wind, which could alone remove it, now 

 gave place to a hard-hearted westerly one. 



All the strait to the eastward of us, and the 

 eastern sea, as far as could be seen from the 

 hill-tops, is perfectly free from ice, whereas 

 in the direction we wish' to proceed there is 

 nothing but packed-ice, or water which can- 

 not be reached. Bitterly disappointed we are, 

 of course ; yet there is reasonable gromid for 



