350 
APPENDIX NO. V. 
to conceal the land. We travelled by compass until 7 P.M., when we 
encamped in lat. 78° 49' 5", being four miles due north from our last 
station. 
March 23.—This morning, seeing nothing but hummocks in our 
course, we took a N.W. direction over a very old floe, which made the 
sledging exceedingly heavy. At noon, after crossing some high hum¬ 
mocks, we came to another old floe, the extent of which could not be 
discerned on account of the fog. Here the sledge was so obstructed 
by snow that at times it could only be moved by a standiug pull. By 
4 p.m. we had crossed this floe, the diameter of which is about two 
miles. On its northern side it had come in contact with a new floe 
having tables seven feet thick, with sharp edges. The mean level of 
the old floe was about six feet higher than that of the new one. The 
remainder of the day we had a good road on new floes, but, having 
seen no land since morning, we were forced to pursue our course by 
compass. In the afternoon a fine breeze sprung up from the N.E., 
accompanied by light snow. We encamped at 7 p.m. 
March 24.—Baker was too sick to walk, and as it still blew a strong 
breeze from the N.E., we resolved to lay to. No land visible. 
March 25.—We set out this morning at 9.20 A.M., and, after cross¬ 
ing some hummocks, travelled to the northward on good floes. I 
found our latitude at noon, by the artificial horizon, to be 78° 56' 8"; 
the dead reckoning for the same hour being 78° 56' 0". The north 
headland of Bensselacr Bay bore exactly south about fifteen miles dis¬ 
tant. At 1 P.M. we reached a ridge of hummocks, one of which Mr. 
Brooks, Mr. Petersen, and I ascended, and found they extended round 
the horizon from S.S.W. through N. to N.N.E. The western shore 
could be traced to a point bearing north from us, where it disappeared, 
leaving an open space of about 50° on the horizon, at which point the 
lowlands on the eastern side of the bay commenced. The west land 
appeared very high to the W. by S. and W. from us, but a fog near 
shore disclosed only the tops of the mountains. A little to the N. of 
W. it becomes low, and apparently more distant; to the W. by N. it 
appears dark, and therefore must be in shadow at 1 p.m., which makes 
the trend of the coast there W. of N. and E. of S.; but it is possible 
that it is only the mountain-wall forming the western boundary of a 
glacier, which seems here to descend into the sound. From W.N.W. 
toward N.W. the laud increases in height, and appears to be much 
traversed by ravines and valleys, judging from the black lines of 
shadow which interrupt the coast-line in many places, but which was 
greatly distorted by refraction. On the E. side, at the point where 
