Scientijic Intelligence. 
the position of Iceland, Faroe, Lewis, and Man, seen in succes- 
sion soon afterwards. A formidable chain of fields and flows 
occurred mid- way between the land and the exterior ice ; but 
to the westward of this chain, little interruption to the naviga- 
tion was observed, the fields, flows and drift-ice that were there 
seen being widely scattered throughout the interior waters. 
Hence there was no obstacle to our proceeding to the very 
shore ; and had we not been fully employed in the more impor- 
tant concerns of the fishery, I should most probably have land- 
ed. But having in this place met with numbers of large whales, 
we obtained a full cargo, consisting of seventeen of these ani- 
mals, expected to produce SOO tons of oil, and found it a 
matter of prudence to make our way out of the ice. We escap- 
ed from a troublesome entanglement on the 31st July, after 
being for several days greatly hindered by a vast accumulation 
of heavy ice, and the general prevalence of thick weather. 
From the remarkable openness of the ice near the east coast of 
West Greenland, there appeared to be no difficulty after the 
chain of ice-fields was passed, of tracing the coast for many de- 
grees of latitude, both to the northward and southward of the 
7^d parallel. We entered the ice in Lat. 74°, and escaped to 
sea in 69° 40', after remaining about forty days amid the mazes 
of the ice. The east coast of Greenland, at the situation visit- 
ed, very much resembles the west of Spitzbergen, differing only 
in the circumstance of its bearing a less burden of snow. The 
land is mountainous, the surface hummocky, and in general 
very irregular. Though the atmosphere was clear, on our near- 
est approach, yet it was so loaded with a transparent vapour of 
unequal density, that the distinct form of the hills could not be 
determined. The apparent form of the land varied every mo- 
ment, so that the most curious and beautiful appearances, as 
well as the most grotesque figures, were assumed by the moun- 
tainous coast. Obelisks, towns, spires, ramparts, turrets, flag- 
staffs, and basaltic cliffs, were frequently represented in clear 
and distinct forms. Though this state of the atmosphere was 
unfavourable for certain observations, yet in the course of the 
day I obtained good sights of the sun for the latitude and lon- 
gitude, and variation, and such a view of the coast as gave me 
a tolerable eye-draught of the coast, through an extent of sixty 
