140 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
that we saw it. The appearances which thus de- 
ceived us, proved to be nothing more than cape- 
jl^-awa^s, as the sailors term them, or clouds resem- 
bling distant land. After a few hours’ sailing, the 
water assumed the colour known to afford the fa- 
vourite food to whales, for which, therefore, every 
one now anxiously looked. It was singular that 
we had now voyaged some thousands of miles, 
with the colour of the water as blue as indigo, 
which may in some measure account for the small 
number of whales that we had seen: and those 
few, were not resident but running fish, that is, 
travelling from one place to another. The tem- 
perature of this day was most delightful ; the ther- 
mometer was at 40"^, latitude by observation, 74° 
64', N., longitude 12° W. 
After a strong gale from the westward 
July 21 . whole of yesterday, accompa- 
nied by thick weather, which prevented our 
making much progress, the wind this morning 
abated, and changed to the south-east ; by noon 
the weather became clear, and enabled us not only 
to pursue our course but to observe our situation ; 
we were at the entrance of a very deep bay 
formed by the most extensive fields of ice, with 
which we had hitherto met; they extended very 
far beyond the reach of natural vision or command 
of the telescope from the mast-head, and in them 
neither crack nor fissure could be seen. They 
were unusually rugged, and encumbered with larger 
masses of solid ice than I had before seen, and 
