OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
259 
We here obtained our last supply of sorrel, the leaves of which had now 1820 . 
become so shrivelled, as well as insipid, as to be no longer worth gathering, 
We saw no birds here but one or two flocks of king-ducks, a speckled owl, 
which was killed, and now and then a solitary glaucous gull. 
An air of wind having sprung up from the westward in the evening, the ice 
had slackened about us a little by eight P.M,, which induced me to cast off 
soon after, though with little prospect of making any progress. After two 
hours, during which the breeze deserted us, we had gained abput three- 
quarters of a mile to the eastward, and then made fast to the land-ice to wait 
for an opening, which might enable us to proceed. 
The wind remained light and variable till five A.M. on the 26th, when a Sat. 26 . 
westerly breeze began to open the ice a little ; at seven we cast off, and made 
all sail to the eastward, through loose but heavy pieces of ice, between which 
there seemed sufficient room for the ships to sail. We soon found, however, that 
the young ice, which at a distance appeared like open water, had so completely 
occupied the space between the heavier masses, that when the ship had 
entered it, it was impossible to keep way upon her, or to get her head in the 
right direction. Such, indeed, was the difficulty of doing this, that we were 
incessantly labouring from eight till half-past eleven, without gaining a single 
yard, except what the ship drifted with the ice. Having at length, however, 
got out of the scrape into which the young ice had unavoidably brought us, 
and the breeze freshening up strong from the westward, all sail was made 
along the land, generally within half a mile of the beach, where a channel 
of clear water had now opened. In the course of the morning, the Hecla 
received some very severe shocks, one of which we were apprehensive had 
damaged the rudder, the ship having run with fresh sternway against a heavy 
piece of ice, but fortunately no material injury was sustained. 
Soon after noon, the weather became thick, with heavy snow, so that we 
were obliged to run entirely by the lead, on which we had every reason con- 
fidently to rely, as a safe and sure guide. We kept close along the edge of 
the ice, which was quite compact to the southward of us, without the 
smallest appearance of an opening to encourage a hope of penetrating in 
that direction. 
Having now received the answers of the officers to my letter addressed to 
them on the 23d, and given the matter my most serious and mature considera- 
tion, it was necessary that I should make up my mind as to the future con- 
duct of the Expedition. It was gratifying to me to find that the officers 
