308 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



A 1822 ' t numerous pools and holes in the ice. Two planks of fir nailed together 

 v^y-v/ being speedily furnished from the ships, at two P.M. we finally took our 

 departure. 



Having soon gained the more solid floe before observed from the island, 

 we found its edge distinctly defined by a strait line of " hummocky " ice, 

 where it was joined to the thinner floe occupying the stream of the Strait ; 

 giving us the impression of its having been much longer formed than the 

 other in consequence of being out of the tide-way, and affording, by its 

 comparative solidity, very superior travelling. Being thus favoured, we 

 made quick progress to the westward for seven or eight miles, when the 

 holes and cracks began to increase in frequency and depth, and we were 

 three hours in accomplishing the last mile and a half ; the warmth reflected 

 from the land, and the action of the tides in raising and depressing the ice, 

 having here cracked and partially detached it in many places. We landed at 

 a quarter past nine P.M., after seven hours' walking, the direct distance from 

 the ships not exceeding ten or eleven miles, and found it low water by the 

 shore about ten o'clock. 



The difficulty experienced in landing made me apprehensive lest Mr. Crozier 

 and his party should not be able to get from the island without the as- 

 sistance of our bridge. I despatched him, however, at four A.M. on the 

 Thur. 15. 15th, and had the satisfaction to find that being now unencumbered with 

 loads, he and his men were able, by a circuitous route observed from the 

 hills, to leap from one mass of ice to another and thus to gain the more solid 

 floe. Having seen him thus far safely on his way, we crossed the island one- 

 third of a mile to the westward, carrying the plank with slings from our 

 shoulders, to prevent injuring it on the rocks. After passing over broken 

 and detached ice for a mile and a quarter to the next island, which is a 

 small one, we found it separated by a narrow channel of a hundred yards in 

 width from a third and larger. After dining and resting an hour or two 

 about noon, near the middle of this island, we arrived on its western shore 

 at six in the evening, when the weather becoming misty we pitched the 

 tent for the night. Between this and the next island was a large space en- 

 tirely clear of ice, and here we observed a black whale sporting about : we 

 also met with two large deer and a fawn, but could not get near them. A 

 long-tailed duck with three very young ones, and a pair or two of red- 

 throated divers, were swimming about in the ponds. The former served us 

 as a supper, the andromeda tetragona and ground-willow furnishing fuel for 



