114 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



October. eitner t0 run tnis risk or t0 return a part of the distance sailed in the morning, 



v -^w/ W e anchored at three P.M. in seven fathoms, on a muddy bottom, being 

 sheltered by a point of land to the southward, and by an island to the north. 



Frid. 5. The ice at the time of our anchoring was a mile and a half distant, and 

 seemed to be fast driving out of the inlet. About midnight however the 

 whole body was observed to be coming in upon the ships. The cables 

 being immediately veered to prevent the anchors starting, the holding- 

 ground proved so good that they did not move. The Hecla rode a very 

 great strain, the floe-pieces being heavy and too large to find their way past 

 us. Fortunately however the pressure of the ice relaxed soon after, and 

 it then moved out again ; so that not the smallest damage was sustained by 

 either ship. The wind freshening up from the northward, the ice again 

 acquired good way out of the inlet in the course of the day ; and I was glad 

 to find, in the afternoon, that the prospect from the hills was somewhat more 

 promising than before. We endeavoured to get fresh water on shore here, 

 but found all the ponds, which were indeed shallow, hard frozen to the 

 bottom. The ground was mostly covered with snow ; but in some places on 

 the rocks it had been in part dissolved, and then frozen again into a cake of 

 smooth transparent ice, which made the walking very slippery. On every 

 smaller stone also, and round the decayed stalk of each plant that protruded 

 through the snow, a knob of the same substance was formed, and these reflect- 

 ing the rays of an unclouded sun had a very brilliant effect. This appearance 

 seemed to us worth noticing, as it shewed the difference between this climate 

 and that of a more northern latitude where, after the snow has once fallen, 

 the sun's rays have not power to produce the slightest appearance of glazing 

 on the surface till late in the spring. A flock of five ptarmigans and the track 

 of a bear were seen. Captain Lyon and myself also distinctly saw a hawk, 

 whose plumage appeared quite white, being the only instance in which such 

 a bird was met with. The thermometer being at 15° at six in the morning, 

 and rising only to 17° at two P.M., much young ice was formed in-shore. 

 Every attention was paid to the clothing of the ships' companies at this 

 period when, from the suddenness of the change of temperature, and the 

 necessity of frequent exposure, there is perhaps as much to apprehend in 

 this respect as at almost any other time of the year. 



Sat. 6. The ships were under way at a quarter past six on the morning of the 6th, 

 the wind being fresh from the N.b.W. and the thermometer as low as 11°. 

 The ships' bends were now so coated with ice about the water-line, that we 



