310 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



how much of this difference is to be attributed to the man, and how much to 

 the mosquito. 



The islands over which we had lately passed, and which, at the request of 

 Mr. Richards, I named the Bouverie Islands, rise from two to six hundred 

 feet above the sea, with deep water quite close to their shores. They con- 

 sist principally of dark-coloured gneiss-rock, the strata of which, in all the 

 instances where I had an opportunity of examining them, dipped to the 

 northward or north-west. There are also on some of the islands consider- 

 able tracts where the rocks exhibited a schistose structure, the loose slaty 

 fragments, which I took to be mica-slate, varying from near a perpendicular 

 to an almost horizontal direction, and indifferently as to the direction of 

 their dip. On one island only, being that on which the three deer were 

 seen, the outer ends of these slaty fragments were covered with a thin super- 

 ficial coating of a verdigris-green substance, extending a foot or two along 

 the surface in different places, and giving the rock the singular appearance 

 of having been painted that colour. None of the fragments were thus 

 tinged in any part but their outer ends, nor could I lincl any other substance 

 in the same neighbourhood exhibiting a similar appearance. 



After obtaining the meridian altitude, which gave the lat. 69° 37' 55", we 

 left the island, and directed our course across the ice to the N.W., towards 

 a low part of the land. On reaching this spot, which proved to be an isthmus 

 scarcely fifty yards in breadth, and ascending the first eminence, we had 

 every reason to be satisfied with our route, being now enabled to perceive 

 that we had in all probability reached the main-land ; the ice lately crossed 

 being that of a spacious bay to the south, which I named after my fellow- 

 traveller Mr. Richards, and the sea to the northward, between us and the 

 high land of Keiyuk-tarruoke, bearing evident marks of our approach to the 

 supposed strait. The ice was here entirely broken up and in motion to the 

 eastward, and in many places about the northern shore there was abundance 

 of open water. Being satisfied that we could now perform the remainder of 

 our journey by land, I determined to leave the plank and a portion of our 

 provisions at this spot, and to make a forced march for the Strait as lightly 

 equipped as possible. We here for the first time found the rocks to be 

 composed of red granite, a circumstance we hailed with satisfaction at the 

 time, as Captain Lyon had met with a similar formation at the extent of his 

 journey to the w estward. It was high water by the shore at about seven in 

 the evening. 



