348 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



"Sept". extreme ly good, the late frost having filled up all the holes and pools upon 

 ■^v^ the ice. After the first four miles the character of the ice changed from the 

 rough and * hummocky ' kind to a smooth level floe, and this continued the 

 whole way to the land, except that in its immediate neighbourhood it was 

 much broken up and detached ; which occasioned us much difficulty and 

 some wetting in getting to the beach. One of the Hecla's men having been 

 taken ill about this time I determined to send him back to the ships without 

 delay, and directed one of his shipmates to accompany and take care of 

 him. This reduction of our number considerably increasing the loads of the 

 rest of the party, one day's provision was deposited at the landing-place, 

 and with the remainder we set out to the westward. 



" From one till four P.M. we walked nine miles over excellent grounxffor 

 travelling, and then obtained sights for the chronometer, giving the longitude 

 83° 58' 30" ; after which we again moved forward, and having advanced six 

 miles in a direction a little to the northward of west, halted and pitched the 

 tent for the night. The land over which we had this day travelled is prin- 

 cipally composed of sandstone, with here and there a piece of granite. In 

 the course of the day we passed the stones of an Esquimaux summer 

 habitation, arranged as usual in a circular form, but it did not appear of 

 recent date. The ice in the Strait still presented the same unbroken sur- 

 face as that seen from, the ships, except quite close in-shorc, where it was 

 detached by the action of the tides. We also observed a few narrow lanes of 

 water here and there running into the floe, but they extended only a short 

 distance from the land. 



" At five A.M. on the 1 1'th, we re-commenced our walk to the westward, 

 and at seven came to a ravine with a rapid run of water, which we crossed 

 after a little detention, and stopped to breakfast one mile to the westward of 

 it. Again proceeding at nine o'clock, we continued our walk till noon, 

 when we halted to obtain the meridian altitude, which gave the latitude 

 70° 00' 05", and soon after setting forward again, pitched our tent for the 

 night at half-past six P.M. our day's journey being estimated at thirteen miles 

 in a W.|N. direction. We could here perceive that the opposite or main- 

 land gradually trended to the southward, leaving a broad entrance into the 

 Western Sea, though covered with even and apparently unbroken ice. The 

 weather being clear afforded us an extensive prospect to the westward, and 

 we could now perceive that a bluff near the north shore, which had before 

 appeared insular, formed in reality the northern point of the entrance, and 



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