OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



Ill 



buoys at the proposed anchorage, we returned on board at noon ; and finding '^1. 

 the ice had advanced nearly a mile since the morning, I determined to lose ^>r*J 

 no time in securing the ships from its approach, and accordingly bore up for 

 the cove, in which, after passing over a shoal with five fathoms, and discover- 

 ing another dry at low water, we anchored at two P.M. in thirteen fathoms, 

 muddy bottom. An officer was immediately despatched along the hills to 

 ascertain before dark the exact position of the ice, which he reported to be 

 quite close to the southward, filling up the entrance of the inlet. The long- 

 tailed ducks were here so numerous, that I believe we disturbed some thou- 

 sands of them in the boats in the course of the morning. 



On the 28th the ice still continued to occupy the whole mouth of the Frid. 28. 

 inlet ; and on the following day, the wind increasing to a strong gale from Sat. 29. 

 the E.N.E., and there being no room to drive, we were obliged to drop our 

 second anchors under foot. A good deal of snow fell and the land was 

 now entirely covered with it, except a horizontal strip of black along the 

 shores which, being washed by the sea and varying in breadth according to 

 the time of tide, presented, except at high water, a striking contrast with 

 the uniform whiteness of the rest of the land. Notwithstanding the reflected 

 light occasioned by the snow, the nights were at this period so dark, that we 

 could scarcely distinguish the shores of the cove at the distance of only a 

 cable's length. 



The gale still blew hard on the 30th, and indeed increased so much atSund.30. 

 night as to render it expedient to strike the lower yards, and send the top- 

 gallant masts on deck. This continued with little intermission during the October. 

 1st of October, when some small rain fell, which immediately freezing made Mon ' *" 

 the decks and ropes as smooth and slippery as if coated with glass. The 

 mercury in the barometer stood at 29.36 inches at noon, being its minimum 

 during this gale ; it then gradually rose, though the wind continued with 

 equal or even increased violence for more than six and thirty hours after- 

 wards. The thermometer had for several days past permanently fallen below 

 the freezing point, and sometimes as low as 20° at night ; which change, 

 together with the altered appearance of the land, and the rapid formation 

 of young ice near the shores, gave pretty evident notice of the approach 

 of winter. The commencement of this dreary season in these regions, 

 may indeed, be fairly dated from the time when the earth no longer 

 receives and radiates heat enough to melt the snow which falls upon it. 

 When the land is once covered with this substance, so little calculated to 



