286 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



and stood to the eastward, encountering the usual strength of tide off the 

 y^r^j south-west point of Tangle Island, and soon after a great quantity of heavy 

 drift ice apparently not long detached from some land. In endeavouring to 

 beat between this and the island, which is very shoal on that side, we 

 gradually decreased our soundings every tack, till we had only four fathoms 

 and a half, at the distance of a full mile from the shore. To avoid the risk 

 of grounding in this rapid tide-way, we were then obliged to bear away for 

 a narrow " neck " to leeward, through which the ship was at length forced, 

 and we soon got into clear water beyond. 

 Tues. 30. Advancing to the eastward during the night we again came to quantities 

 of loose ice on the morning of the 30th, through which we sailed for several 

 hours. This ice was of the heavy " hummocky" kind, but all in small de- 

 tached masses, the natural effect of the strong current by which it was here 

 hurried to and fro. My object in endeavouring to examine as much as pos- 

 sible of the land in this direction, was not confined simply to a general desire 

 of increasing our geographical knowledge by all the means within our reach, 

 but extended also to a possibility of our being obliged after all to pursue the 

 circuitous route round Keiyuk-tarruoke, should unforeseen obstacles eventu- 

 ally oppose our progress to the westward, through the more direct channel 

 now before us. It was not without extreme mortification therefore that we 

 once more found the unfavourable state of the ice, combining with the uni- 

 form lowness of the land in this neighbourhood, to baffle all our endeavours 

 in pursuit of this object. Having before eight A.M. been obliged to heave 

 to on account of the closeness of the ice, we could distinguish what we 

 considered the extreme point of land stretching as far as a N.|E. bear- 

 ing, and to the eastward of this was an apparent opening occupying 

 about four points of the compass. Next to the southward was a large 

 smooth-topped portion of low land that appeared insular, but so choked on 

 every side with ice that we could not get nearer to it than three or four 

 leagues, being in lat. 69° 26' 40", longitude, by chronometers, 79° 19' 44", 

 and having no soundings with thirty fathoms of line. 



The opening above mentioned appeared, from the strength and direction 

 of the tide, to be that which must be pursued in any attempt to circumnavi- 

 gate Keiyuk-tarruoke ; but the unpromising state of the ice in this direction, 

 and the precarious nature of the navigation, on account of the strong tides 

 and the shelving character of the lands, did not offer any encouragement to 

 make that attempt while a chance remained of effecting the more direct pas- 



