536 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, we afterwards saw of these people, there is every reason to believe that 
was their real motive. 
Aug. Off the entrance of Kotzebue Sound we were met by a westerly 
wind, which prevented our making much progress ; but on the 18th the 
breeze veered to the south-westward, with a thick fog, and as I had not 
seen any thing of the barge, I steered to the northward to ascertain the 
position of the ice. At noon Cape d'horason was seen N. 46° E. (true) 
three leagues distant, but was immediately obscured again by fog. At 
midnight the temperature of both air and sea fell from 43° to 39°, and 
rose again soon afterwards to 44°, occasioned probably by some patches 
of ice ; but the weather was so thick that we could see only a very short 
distance around us. We continued to stand to the north-west, with very 
thick and rainy weather, until half past one o’clock in the afternoon, 
when I hauled to the wind, in consequence of the temperature of the 
water having cooled down to 35°, and the weather being still very thick. 
In half an hour afterwards we heard the ice to leeward, and had but just 
room to go about to clear a small berg at its edge. Our latitude at 
this time was 70° OL' N., and longitude l68° 50' W., or about l60 miles 
to the westward of Icy Cape. The soundings in the last twelve hours 
had been very variable, increasing at one time to thirty fathoms, then 
shoaling to twenty-four and deepening again to thirty-two fathoms, 
muddy bottom ; an hour after this we shoaled to twenty-one fathoms, 
stones, and at the edge of the ice to nineteen fathoms, stones. The 
body of ice lying to the northward prevented our pursuing this shallow 
water to ascertain whether it decreased so as to become dangerous to 
navigation. 
Shortly after we tacked, the wind fell very light, and changed to 
west. We could hear the ice plainly ; but the fog was so thick that we 
could not see thirty yards distance ; and as we appeared to be in a bay, 
to avoid being beset, we stood out by the way which we had entered. 
At nine o’clock the fog cleared off, and we returned toward the ice. At 
midnight, being close at its edge, we found it in a compact body ex- 
tending from W. to N. E. and trending N. 68° E. true. As the weather 
was unsettled, I stood off until four o’clock and then tacked, and at eight 
again saw the ice a few miles to the south-eastward of our position the 
