160 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
The fog having continued without abate- 
July 30. yesterday, now gradually changed 
from the densest mist into the clearest sky. The 
whole of this day, we continued to sail to wind- 
ward, with a fresh breeze from the south-east, to 
keep clear of the heavy bodies of ice, that had 
so long interrupted us; until, at length, at four 
o’clock in the afternoon, we could proceed no 
further for these frozen impediments : we were 
therefore obliged to retrace our steps, as the only 
means of seeking some new lead to clear us from 
the entanglement of those compact bodies of ice 
that were surrounding us. In the evening I saw 
two arctic gulls pursue a kittywake, in as systematic 
a mode of attack as I ever beheld in the flight of 
the best trained hawks after a heron. 
The fog, returning during the night, 
August 1. pieces and heavy 
floes of ice that were continually coming in our 
way, increased the impediments which opposed our 
getting near the verge of the ice, or boundary 
called the sea stream, as we were desirous to do 
in the prosecution of our design of gaining a situa- 
tion more favourable for fishing. It may be interest- 
ing here to give some idea of the obstructions, and 
the great increase of ice with which we had to 
contend above what is usually found. The Baffin 
last year left the west ice, came through that 
expansive body stretching from east to west in forty- 
eight hours, and met with very little interruption. 
We had now been fourteen days making every 
