344 
APPROACHING CLIMAX. 
to the Burgomaster Cove, the flanking cape of Char¬ 
lotte Wood Fioi'd and its river. Here we launched 
her, and went all round the long canal which the 
running waters have eaten into the otherwise un¬ 
changed ice. Charlotte Wood Fiord is a commanding 
sheet of water, nearly as wide as the Delaware : in the 
midst of the extreme solidity around us, it looked de¬ 
ceitfully gladdening. After getting to the other side, 
near Little Willie’s Monument, we ascended a high 
bluff, and saw every thing weary and discouraging 
beyond. Our party returned quite crestfallen.” 
My attempt to reach Beecliy Island had disclosed, 
as I thought it would, the impossibility of reaching 
the settlements of Greenland. Between the American 
and the opposite side of the bay was one continuous 
pack of ice, which, after I had travelled on it for many 
miles to the south, was still of undefined extent before 
me. The birds had left their colonies. The water- 
streams from the bergs and of the shore were freezing 
up rapidly. The young ice made the water-surface 
impassable even to a whaleboat. It was clear to me 
that without an absolute change of circumstances, such 
as it was vain to look for any longer, to leave the ship 
would be to enter upon a wilderness destitute of re¬ 
sources, and from which it would be difficult, if not 
impracticable, to return. 
Every thing before us was involved in gloomy doubt. 
Hopeful as I had been, it was impossible not to feel 
that we were near the climax of the expedition. 
I determined to place upon Observatory Island a 
