OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



343 



In the morning experiments, however, the temperature of the surface, as 

 given above, was taken on the starboard side, on which a bright sun had s^^j 

 been shining for several hours ; whereas, on the larboard or shady side the 

 water was at the temperature of 30°, or a degree and a quarter warmer. A 

 party of the Hecla's people, sent by Captain Lyon to Amherst Island, were 

 fortunate in killing a deer. 



An easterly breeze, though a very light one, served considerably to Thur. 12. 

 widen the crack in the ice before seen to the westward ; and, as the floe 

 had certainly not moved in our neighbourhood, a hope was excited that 

 there must be some room to the westward to have allowed a separation to 

 take place. We therefore anxiously looked for a strong easterly wind, as the 

 most probable means of at length clearing a passage through the Strait. 

 The weather continued remarkably mild and pleasant, and some thawing 

 was going on during the day. Our hunting parties were again sent on shore 

 to the island, but without success. 



Just before daylight on the 13th the floe suddenly broke between the two Frid. 

 ships, and we were for some time in hopes that a general change was 

 about to take place in our favour, as we could soon after perceive a good 

 deal of open water immediately to the westward of the ice to which the 

 ships were attached. We found, however, as the day broke, that no 

 alteration had taken place near us but the separation of a considerable 

 mass near the island, leaving no passage whatever into the open water 

 seen beyond. The Hecla, happening to be fast to the broken mass, was 

 obliged to make all sail, to stem a current that carried her with it some dis- 

 tance to the eastward. So far however was this current from being percep- 

 tible on or near the surface that, on making several trials, a superficial 

 set, occasioned by an easterly breeze, was uniformly found in an opposite 

 direction. 



The latitude of our present station was 69° 48' 10" ; the longitude, by chro- 

 nometers, 83° 29' 27"; the variation of the magnetic needle 89° 18' 19"; and 

 the dip, as obtained by Mr. Fisher, 88° 21' 21". The view of the Strait from, 

 this position was calculated to impress us with the idea of its being a mag- 

 nificent passage into the Polar Sea, especially on one of the clear and cloud- 

 less days which we had lately enjoyed. One of the most striking features 

 of this truly polar landscape is that which is presented by the snow-capped 

 mountains of Cockburn Island, to the north-west of the ships, the highest 

 of which Mr. Fisher determined, by accurate trigonometrical measurement* 



