44 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
points of the compass, from south-west by north to 
south-east, with ice. Here we lay to, as a strong 
gale from the north-east enabled the ship to keep 
in a quiet situation ; and, as it was a wind best 
suited to open the ice to the northward, we might 
proceed, should circumstances yet occur, to a greater 
latitude without much loss of time. The gale con- 
tinuing, we kept our situation during the nineteenth, 
twentieth, and twenty-iirst : the latter day being 
Sunday, the crew attended the usual divine service, 
consisting of prayers and an excellent sermon. 
The gale having abated, under the presumption 
that it might have opened a passage we sailed to 
the north-west, for abpuf five hours, when, not being 
able to proceed any longer in that direction, and 
the blue colour of the water being still discouraging, 
we sailed to the south-west, into a bight, in which 
were streams of ice with very heavy hummocks upon 
them. Feelings of disappointment, at not having 
seen any whales, were now apparent in every coun- 
tenance : I shared in them most sensibly, and re- 
tired to my cabin, to bury my annoyance in sleep, 
in which I had not indulged more than an hour or 
two, when I was aroused by the joyful sound of “ A 
fish ! ! Lower away the boats ! ; and the greatest 
imaginable bustle prevailed upon the deck. No 
mind can possibly conceive the momentary transition 
effected on my spirits, at the idea that the time was 
at length arrived, when, from practical observation, 
I should be able to form a decided opinion, whether 
