OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



299 



The tremulous appearance is in a greater or less degree a very common phe- ^ 

 nomenon in the Polar Seas. Such indeed is the frequent occurrence of ex" »-* 

 traordinary and variable terrestrial refraction, and the consequent uncertainty 

 with respect to the dip of the horizon, that observations made by the horizon 

 of the sea, even when wholly free from ice, cannot be depended on within 

 two or three minutes. There is however practically little or nothing to re- 

 gret on this account, from the almost constant opportunities that occur in 

 these seas of resorting to the more accurate method of observation by artifi- 

 cial horizons. 



The wind backing by the N.E. to N.N.W. during the night, we had on Sat 

 the 3d a clear and pleasant day which, as the ice remained in the same state 

 as before, induced us to pay another visit to Tern Island. W e here found 

 the scurvy-grass so much improved in luxuriance that a number of men from 

 each ship were employed all day in picking it for the purpose of boiling 

 with our pea-soup. Every body seemed to agree that the taste of this plant 

 somewhat resembled turnip-tops, but it possesses it in a very small degree, 

 and whatever may be its anti-scorbutic qualities has little or nothing to recom- 

 mend it to the palate. The leaves were in general numerous, but not exceed- 

 ing two-eighths of an inch in diameter, and in many tufts there was nothing 

 but the flower and stalks ; but these as well as the root were all committed to 

 our coppers, being the only general supply of the kind obtained during this 

 voyage. The tern had now almost entirely deserted the island, and we saw 

 no other birds except a flock or two of phalaropes and a few silvery gulls. 



In the evening the wind having settled to the southward and eastward, 

 which was directly upon the ice, I ordered the ships to be got under way, 

 for the purpose of keeping them always at liberty for any change that might 

 occur. The Fury being in an awkward lee bight, we had to send a kedge 

 out for casting ; but being after all obliged to make sail on an unfavourable 

 tack were again carried into the ice, which was now in so thin and " rotten" 

 a state, that the ship forced her way several hundred yards into it before she 

 stopped, and then lay during the night thus immoveably though quite safely 

 beset. The Hecla having cleared the floe, I made Captain Lyon's signal to 

 act as appeared best to him ; and he accordingly kept under sail as at first 

 intended. 



The present state of the ice, at which I have just hinted, served no less 

 to excite our surprise than to keep alive our hopes and expectations. The 

 spaces occupied respectively by ice and holes were about equal ; and so 



2 Q 2 



