361 
East Coast of West Greenland. 
and intimated that the fishing season was nearly at a close. The 
only hope of additional success depended on their vicinity to the 
coast. The resolution of remaining proved a fortunate one, for, 
on the 15th August, three large whales were captured. 
On the night of the 15th and 16th, stars were seen for the 
first time during fifteen weeks; the sky became beautifully 
clear, the sea, as usual on such occasions, began to freeze as 
soon as the sun descended within 4 or 5 degrees of the horizon, 
though the temperature was invariably above the freezing point 
of sea-water, an effect which, Captain Scoresby remarks, may 
be ascribed to the cooling of the surface of the water, by the 
effect of radiation between the surface of the sea and the at- 
mosphere. The fact of the abstraction of the heat of the wa- 
ter, when exposed to the full aspect of a colourless sky, is cer- 
tain ; but, in cloudy weather, no freezing of the sea ever takes 
place, when the temperature is above 29° ; but, in clear and 
calm weather, the sea generally freezes on the decline of the 
sun towards the meridian below the pole, though the tempera- 
ture be 32° or higher. In the instance now alluded to, the 
freezing commenced when the temperature was 36°, being 7^ • or 
8* above the freezing point of sea-water. On the 20th August the 
weather cleared, and allowed the survey to be continued. The 
Latitude at mid-day was 71° 50' 28 // , Longitude 20° 43'15 tf W. 
Various headlands were named, in honour of distinguished natu- 
ralists and navigators, as Capes Brown, Krusentern, Buch, Sic. 
Mr Scoresby senior visited his son in the afternoon of this day, 
and gave an account, published in the Journal, of the interest- 
ing adventures of the crews of two of his boats, who were ab- 
sent nearly forty hours during the severe storm of the 12th and 
13th. On the 25th August the survey was terminated. The 
great hazard they encountered on the storm of t %e 23d, with 
numerous symptoms of approaching winter, warned them to 
quit a coast which was daily becoming more and more dange- 
rous. In the early part of this month they experienced the 
heat of a British summer, and numerous birds were seen, — but 
the land was now covered with snow, and the birds were moving 
off to their southern quarters. Another intimation of approach- 
ing winter, to which they had been little accustomed in the 
Greenland Fishery, was the setting of the sun, and the rapid 
