VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 93 
angles, some of which were forty feet high ; its front 
was a bluff and craggy barrier of several feet in 
height, from which it was evident that large masses 
had been separated. In parts of this line, bays of 
considerable depth had been formed, gradually slop- 
ing from the margin of the sea to the higher ter- 
mination. The wind increasing, and the ice indica- 
ting a general movement, we sailed to a considerable 
distance and lay to. 
A gale coming on, we kept under the 
June 11. ice-field, which not only screened 
us from its fury, but kept us undisturbed by the swell 
of the sea, so that the ship to my great comfort lay 
in a state of comparative rest. I had now leisure 
to examine with attention the formation of that 
curious phenomenon, a field of ice, which exhibited 
proofs of its receiving annual accumulations by dis- 
tinct tiers or layers, formed most probably by the 
melted snow of preceding winters. Several very 
heavy floes were seen drifting past us at a great 
rate, and I could not help imagining, with feelings of 
horror, the possibility of our being caught between 
two of them and encountering the inevitable de- 
struction, that from their immense pressure must 
necessarily follow, 
A fog with drifting snow, that, on minute 
June 12. displayed a beautiful speci- 
men of regular hexagonal form, rendered the day 
unfavourable for fishing ; and therefore a mass of 
ice, to which it wmuld be safe to moor, was anxiously 
looked for ; after much search, a piece in a favour- 
