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In the Arctic Regions. 207 
return by the way we came, and get round a point to 
the northward. This was, however, impracticable, 
the channel being blocked up by drift ice; and we 
had no prospect of release except by a change of wind. 
This detention was extremely vexatious, as we were 
losing the benefit of a fair wind, and expending our 
stock of provision. In the afternoon the weather 
cleared up, and several men went hunting, but they 
were unsuccessful. During the day the ice floated 
backwards and forwards.in the harbor, moved by cur- 
rents, not regular enough to deserve the name of tide, 
and which appeared to be governed by the wind. We 
perceived great diminution by melting in the pieces 
near us. That none of this ice survives the summer 
is evident, from the rapidity of its decay ; and because 
no ice of last year’s formation was hanging on the 
rocks. “Whether any body of it exists at a distance 
trom the shore, we cannot determine. 
The land around Cape Barrow, and to Detention 
Harbor, consists of steep craggy mountains of granite 
rising so abruptly from the water’s edge, as to admit 
of few landing places even for acanoe. The higher 
parts attain an élevation of one thousand four hundred 
or one thousand five hundred feet ; and the whole is 
entirely destitute of vegetation. 
On the morning of the -27 th the ice remained 
stationary at the entrance ; we went to the bottom of 
