VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 143 
to be both the principal, and the favourite, food of 
the whale ; and, according to Captain Scoresby, it 
was these animalculae which here gave colour to the 
ocean. That which appeared to me the most curious 
among their varieties, was the medusa pileus ; it 
consisted of eight lobes, with a beautiful iridescent 
finny fringe on the external edge of each ; and in 
the canal that penetrated them I observed a reddish 
fluid which moved through it, in the manner that 
blood is shewn to circulate in a pulse glass. The 
very favourable appearance of the water excited 
great surprise that no whales had been seen in it, 
but the most experienced persons among us sup- 
posed, that the fish had been living luxuriously, 
(traces of them being visible on the surface of 
the water,) and had proceeded to the westward. 
This increased our anxiety to pursue that course, 
and almost determined us to persevere in despite 
of the lateness of the season, and other local im- 
pediments, such as dense fogs, which are attendant 
on this period of the year. The ships that had 
been our companions for some time, now began to 
evince a hopelessness in the minds of their com- 
manders, for about mid-day, we saw them change 
their course, and steer to the eastward. Knowing 
by a previous observation taken by Captain Scoresby, 
that we could not now be more than twenty or thirty 
miles from the land, which the fog consequently 
alone hid from our sight, we went to the bottom 
of the bay, determined to leave no effort untried 
where there was the slightest probability of success ; 
but we found that the ice formed a complete and 
