192 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. with all our hands, while we were obtaining the necessary observations 
June. i 
on shore. 
Wed. 7. On our return to the tents, we dined, and rested till one o’clock on the 
morning of the 7th, when we set out for the Point, at which we did not arrive 
till half-past four, the snow being here so deep as to make the cart an 
improper, and, indeed, almost impracticable, mode of conveying our bag- 
gage. It froze all day in the shade, with a fresh breeze from the north, and 
though the tents were pitched under the lea of the grounded ice upon the 
beach, we found it extremely cold ; all the pools of water were frozen hard 
during the night, and some of our canteens burst from the same cause. The 
people were allowed to rest after their supper till four P.M., and were then 
set to work upon the ice, and in building a monument on the top of the 
Point. 
The latitude observed here was 75° 34' 47", the longitude 110° 35 52", and 
the variation of the magnetic needle 135° 03' 55" Easterly. A series of angles 
and astronomical bearings was here obtained for the survey of the coast, and 
for determining the position of Sabine Island, the north-western point of 
which, being bluff headland, was, by Captain Sabine’s desire, named after 
Colonel Mudge, of the Royal Artillery, one of the Commissioners of Longi- 
tude. The land to the westward of Point Nias, sweeps round into a large 
bay, terminating to the north-westward, in a bold Cape bearing N. 43° W., 
and distant from six to eight leagues, which I named after Mr. Fisher. The 
easternmost part of Melville Island, here visible, was a low projecting point 
bearing S. 77° E., and distant eight or nine miles, which was called Point 
Reid, after the gentleman of that name, who accompanied us. 
A continuous line of very large hummocks of ice extended from Point 
Nias, about two miles and a half in a N.N.E. direction ; they were the kind 
of hummocks which always indicate the ice having met with resistance by 
grounding ; and I have little doubt that a reef is clearly marked out by 
them. What makes this more probable is, that in the whole space between 
Points Nias and Reid, the ice near the shore seemed never to have been 
disturbed by any pressure upon it, being, perhaps, defended by the reef from 
the floes coming in from the north-west ; while the whole of the shore, as far 
as I could see with a glass, to the westward of Point Nias, bore evident marks 
of that tremendous pressure, which is produced by fields of ice when set in 
motion. 
The floe of ice proved to be fourteen feet four inches in thickness, and it 
