\ 
32 LAST DANISH OUTPOSTS. 
Still coasting along, we passed in succession the 
Esquimaux settlement of Kingatok, the Kettle,—a 
mountain-top so named from the resemblances of its 
profile-,—and finally Yotlik, the farthest point of colo. 
nization; beyond which, save the sparse headlands of 
the charts, the coast may be regarded as unknown. 
Then, inclining more directly toward the north, we ran 
close to the Baffin Islands,—clogged with ice when I 
saw them three years before, now entirely clear,— 
sighted the landmark which is known as the Horse’s 
Head, and, passing the Duck Islands, where the Ad*, 
vance grounded in 1851, bore away for "W ilcox Point.* 5 * 
We stood lazily along the coast, with alternations of 
perfect calm and off-shore breezes, generally from the 
south or east; but on the mOrning of the 27th of July, 
as we neared the entrance of Melville Bay, one of those 
heavy ice-fogs, which I have described in my former 
narrative as characteristic of this region, settled around 
us. We could hardly see across the decks, and yet 
were sensible of the action of currents carrying us we 
knew not where. By the time the sun had scattered 
the mist, Wilcox Point was to the south ol us; and our 
little brig, now fairly in the bay, stood a fair chance ot 
drifting over toward the Devil s Thumb, which then, 
bore east of north. The bergs which infest this region, 
and which have earned for it among the whalers the 
title of the “Bergy Hole, showed themselves all around 
us: we had come in among them in the fog. 
It was a whole day’s work, towing with both boats; 
but toward evening we had succeeded in crawling off 
