58 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1819. which I have not ventured to include the land to the southward of Lowther 
Island, of which we obtained a very imperfect view, are generally of a 
moderate height, not exceeding perhaps four or five hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. With the exception of some parts of Bathurst Island, 
which have a more rugged aspect, and which rise to a greater elevation 
than this, we found them entirely clear of snow, and when the sun was shining 
upon them, they exhibited a brown appearance. In standing in towards 
Garrett Island, the water was found to deepen from forty to sixty-five, 
seventy, and eighty fathoms ; the latter soundings occurring at two miles 
distance from the south-eastern point of the island, where we suddenly 
met with a strong rippling on the surface of the water : as no irregularity could 
be found in the bottom, this rippling was perhaps occasioned by the meeting 
of the tides in this place. 
Thur. 26. We had seen no whales nor narwhals since leaving Cape Riley on the 
morning of the 23d ; and it was now remarked, not without some degree of un- 
pleasant feeling, that not a single bird, nor any other living creature, had for 
the whole of this day made its appearance. It was, however, encouraging to 
find, while advancing to the westward, as fast as an unfavourable wind would 
permit, that, although the sea beyond us was for the most part covered with 
a compact and undivided body of ice, yet that a channel of sufficient breadth 
was still left open for us between it and the shore, under the lee of Bathurst 
Island. The ice here consisted almost entirely of fields, the limits of which 
were not visible from the mast-head, and which were covered with the same 
kind of hummocks as before described. The westernmost land now in sight was 
a cape, which I named after Vice-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, one of the 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. This cape appeared, during the 
day, to be situated on a small island detached from Bathurst Island ; but, 
on approaching it towards evening, we found them to be connected by a 
low sandy beach or isthmus, over which some high and distant hills were 
seen to the north-westward. An opening in the land near this beach, and 
which had very much the appearance of a river, with some rocky islets at 
its mouth, was named Allison Inlet, after the Greenland master of the 
Hecla. The water became very light coloured as we stood in towards this 
part of the coast, and we tacked in twenty-six fathoms, at six or seven 
miles’ distance from it, continuing to beat to the westward. 
We gained so little ground during the night, and in the early part of the 
following morning, notwithstanding the smoothness of the water, and a fine 
