240 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



cut, that it became necessary to enter a second in order to release it, by- 

 sawing out a circular plug of ice completely round it. Fatiguing as this 

 work proved to the men, I directed it to be continued to-day, the sea re- 

 maining so open on the outside as to give every encouragement to our 

 exertions. 



While we were thus making trial of what art could effect towards our re- 

 lease, nature seemed to be more than usually tardy in rendering her assist- 

 ance. The snow was still leaving the land by very slow degrees, and some 

 small rain fell for a short time on the 7th, but the mean temperature of the 

 twenty-four hours seldom rose above the freezing point. So small indeed 

 was the quantity of water now to be obtained on shore, that being apprehen- 

 sive of actually going to sea without any in the holds, each ship commenced 

 melting snow in her coppers for filling the tanks, the crews being necessarily 

 put on an allowance till this was somewhat advanced. The first flower of 

 the saxifraga oppositifolia was brought on board as a matter of curiosity by 

 our botanists, on the 9th, or one day later than it made its appearance at Mel- 

 ville Island in 1820. 



One of our people, in walking over the island, met with a swan's nest, 

 which Captain Lyon went out to see and made a drawing of it. It was 

 built of moss-peat, being no less than five feet ten inches in length, four feet 

 nine inches wide, and two feet deep, as shewn in the annexed sketch by 

 Captain Lyon. 



The hole of entrance in the top was eighteen inches wide. Two eggs, each 

 weighing about eight ounces, were found in the nest, in which the old birds 

 were also sitting at first, but too wild to be approached. The eggs are of a 

 cream or brownish-white colour, in some parts a little clouded by a darker 



