304 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



The ships being close to the edge of the floe in the evening, I directed 

 them to be made fast; but the boat that went to make holes for the ice- 

 anchors, returning with the information that the ice was in too " rotten" a state 

 to hold them, we ran the ships into the floe under all sail, where they easily 

 made a dock for themselves, and remained quietly for the night, which 

 proved extremely fine and clear. A number of shrimps, echini, and other 

 marine insects Avere brought up in a net from the bottom. 

 0. Some water brought up on the 10th from a depth of forty fathoms was at 

 the temperature of 32°, that of the surface being the same, and of the at- 

 mosphere 40°. In the evening we made sail and ran along the margin of the 

 ice, and soon after had the satisfaction of observing that another large floe 

 was just on the point of being detached. On arriving at its northern end, 

 Ave found that it still wanted a little to complete the separation, and with a 

 view of applying the requisite force, or at least all that we had at our dis- 

 posal, the ships were made fast to it by several hawsers, and all their sails 

 set aback, the wind blowing fresh from the westward. This expedient soon 

 produced the desired effect ; the floe beginning to disjoin in less than ten 

 minutes, and the whole of it then drifting away at the rate of a mile and a 

 half an hour, so that at midnight Ave Avere enabled to cast off and make sail 

 to AvindAvard of it. 



This last disruption, while it gave us another short step to the AvestAvard, 

 allowed us also to approach Nccrlo-Nakto as near as the soundings, Avhich are 

 here quite shoal, Avould permit ; and at noon on the 11th Ave made the ships 

 fast to the ice in eight fathoms, on a bottom of small lime-stones, and Avent 

 on shore to examine the productions of the island, and obtain a more exten- 

 sive vieAv of the neighbouring lands. We found it to resemble Igloolik in 

 its general character, but discovering an approach to the primitive formation 

 not perceptible at the latter island, numerous large masses of granite, gneiss, 

 and quartz appearing on the surface intermixed Avith the fragments of lime 

 of AA r hich it is principally composed. The island is extremely Ioav, and its 

 surface is covered Avith numberless small and one very large pond of fresh 

 Avater, the resort of black and red-throated divers and of the long-tailed 

 ducks. A large flock of brent-geese Avere seen, and two or three procured 

 from some of the Esquimaux Avhom Ave found on the island, and Avho had 

 caught them Avith the snares of Avhalebone before described. Large flocks 

 of eider and king-ducks were also flying about ; but the natives being in the 

 habit of visiting the island for the sake of the birds and their eggs, had 



