OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
213 
at the distance of a mile from the sea, and considerably above its present 1820 - 
..... June. 
level. Another was subsequently tound in a similar situation, more than a 
mile to the north of the harbour, and nearly buried in the earth, which was 
hard frozen around it. Two headlands, to the eastward of the ships, near the 
station which Lieutenant Beechey had chosen for the tents, and for the position 
of which he had obtained angles during his late excursion, were named after 
Messrs. Halse and Wakeham. 
On the 29th, one of the men, in returning on board, from the daily occu- Thur. 29. 
pation of gathering sorrel, found in a hole upon the ice a small fish, which 
appeared to be of the whiting species, and on going to examine the place 
where it was picked up, Mr. Edwards and myself found two others exactly 
similar. As there was as yet no communication between the sea and the 
upper surface of the ice, sufficiently large to admit these fish, it became a 
matter of question in what manner they had got into the situation in which 
we found them. It appeared most likely that they were frozen on the surface 
of the water at the beginning of winter when the frost first commenced, and 
perhaps, therefore, had been floating there dead. We remarked that when- 
ever any hard substance is laid upon the ice in small quantities, it soon 
makes a deep hole for itself, by the heat it absorbs and radiates, by which 
the ice around it is melted. There were at this time upon the ice innume- 
rable holes of this kind, some forming small, and others large pools of water; 
and in every one of these, without exception, some extraneous substance, 
such as sea-weed, sand, and not unfrequently a number of small putrid 
shrimps were found. In one of these holes the fish alluded to were found. 
It was curious to see how directly contrary was the effect produced upon the 
ice by a quantity of straw Avhich was put out upon it in the early part of 
May, and which, by preventing the access of warmth, had now become raised 
above the general surface more than two feet ; affording a strong practical 
example of the principle on which straw is made use of in ice-houses, and 
what was at that time of more importance to us, a proof how much the upper 
surface of the ice had been insensibly wasted by dissolution. 
Lieutenant Hoppner returned, on the evening of the 29th, from his hunting 
excursion to the south-west, bringing with him some game, and what was to 
us much more acceptable, the welcome information that the ice had been 
observed in motion in the offing on the 22d. This circumstance was first 
observed by Messrs. Skene and Fife, who were of Lieutenant Hoppner’s 
party, and who were awakened by a loud grinding noise, which, as they 
