314 



GREENLAND OR POLAR ICE. 



thick. We were assisted by about a hundred men 

 from the accompanying ships, which followed 

 close in our rear ; and after applying all our me- 

 chanical powers during eight or nine hours, we 

 passed the strait of about a furlong in length, and 

 immediately the ice collapsed and rivetted the ships 

 of our companions to the spot. As they declined 

 our proffered assistance, (which indeed, at this time, 

 would have been quite unavailing), we determined 

 to improve the advantage we had acquired, by pro- 

 ceeding to the utmost limits of the opening. Ac- 

 cordingly, we advancedjon various winding courses, 

 amidst bay ice and fields, in narrow obscure passages, 

 a distance of several miles. We then discovered 

 a continuation of the navigation, which, although 

 contracted to the space of a few yards, in a chan- 

 nel extending near a mile, between two immense 

 sheets of ice, we determined to attempt to pass on. 

 The prospect was indeed appalling ; but, perceiving 

 indications of the enlargement of the passage, ra- 

 ther than the contrary, we advanced under a press 

 of sail, driving aside some disengaged lum.ps of 

 ice that opposed us, and shortly accomplished our 

 wishes in safety. Here, an enlivening prospect 

 presented itself: to the extreme limits of the 

 horizon, no interruption was visible. We made a 

 predetermined signal to the ships we had left, in- 

 dicative of our views. In two hours, however, our 

 sanguine expectations of an immediate release, 



