jOtJRNAL OF A GREENLAND VOYAGE. l65 



E. ot S E. winds, had it not fallen we should 

 have expected a storm, on its veering from N W. 

 to the opposite quarter ; but, when accompanied 

 by a fall of near four-tenths of an inch, a most 

 violent gale would be likely to ensue. I walked 

 the deck somewhat alarmed at the awful appear- 

 ance of the sky, in the short intervals of the 

 showers. At one time, a strong light, like that 

 seen reflected on the horizon by the rising or 

 setting sun, appeared stretching from the N N E, 

 to the E S E, but more correctly corresponding 

 with the phenomenon of the ice-blink, which is a 

 strong light reflected from the ice into the at- 

 mosphere above it, and in clear weather is almost 

 always seen when at the distance of fifteen or 

 twenty miles from any compact body of ice. This 

 white light, I soon ascertained, did not proceed 

 from any ice The sun was neither in the same 

 quarter nor opposite. 



" In the midst of a thick shower, (wind still 

 NW toNNW,) I observed the snow to clear 

 away to lee-ward, which assured me of the wind 

 being about to shift. Immediately all hands were 

 ordered on deck to attend the sails, and every man 

 at his station, awaited the event. In about ten 



L 3 



* Some time afterwards, when mentioning this circumstance 

 to an old Greenland commander, he told me he had himself more 

 than once seen the phenomenon I described, and always con- 

 sidered it as a prognostic of a storm ; at the same time, its po- 

 sit ion pointed out the quarter from whence it would commence. 



