OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
7 
of the same colour as in the morning, we tried for soundings, but could find no j 819 - 
bottom with two hundred and sixty fathoms. The temperature of the sea at 
that depth was 39°, that of the surface being then 37°, and of the air 35°. The 
specific gravity of the surface water which at noon was 1.0262, at the temperature 
of 56°, had decreased to 1.0257, at that of 57°. On the 19th, at noon we were Sat. 19. 
in latitude, by observation on the ice, 59° 48' 26 "*, and in longitude, by the 
chronometers, 48° 01' 50", when a current was found to set S. 50° W. at the rate 
of six miles per day. A breeze springing up from the eastward, we bore away 
to the W.N.W., through rather close “ sailing ice.” The fog which had pre - 
vailed during the day cleared away in the evening, and discovered to us the 
coast of Greenland, bearing from N. 3° W. to N. 62° E., at the distance of twelve 
or thirteen leagues. On the following morning a very remarkable hill, being the Sun. 20. 
highest land in sight, was found, by a base measured by Massey’s patent log, to 
be in lat. 60° 53' 29", and long. 48° 42' 22 ". This position answers nearly to an 
island called Noua in Arrowsmith’s chart, a little to the eastward of Cape De- 
solation. The water still continued of the same dirty colour as before ; but at 
half past four P.M., when we hove to, for the purpose of taking the Griper in 
tow, we could find no bottom with a hundred and forty fathoms of line. On 
the evening of the 21st, having run to the westward as far as 55° 01' W. in the Mon. 21. 
lat. of 61° 26', we observed the colour of the water to have changed from the 
brownish tinge before-mentioned, to a light bluish green ; and it is remarkable 
that its specific gravity was found to have increased, within a few hours, 
from 1.0257 to 1.0261, both being at the temperature of 57° when weighed. 
These experiments seem to confirm those made on the 18th, and to render 
it highly probable, that the brown colour remarked in the sea was occasioned 
by the admixture of a large portion of fresh water, supplied by the melting 
of the snow and ice. 
On the 21st and 22d, we sailed to the W.N.W. in an open sea ; and, onTues. 22. 
the 23d, at noon, being in lat. 62° 43' 09", long. 61° 32' 49", we saw several Wed. 23. 
icebergs, and some loose ice, to the north-westward. We obtained soundings 
* The ice here having a motion which was very perceptible in the artificial horizon, we 
had recourse to a mode of observing the meridian altitude, which we had occasionally 
adopted in the former voyage. Two observers brought the same limb of the sun down in 
separate horizons ; the first of these taking care never to allow the two images to separate 
entirely, and the second never permitting them to overlap. The mean of the two ob- 
servations being then taken, the error arising from the rolling motion of the ice may thus be 
in a great measure obviated, and the altitude obtained within the nearest minute. 
