202 NORTH 
Flinders; but it was fuppofed to be an accidental pecu¬ 
liarity in his fhip; it is now clear that it belongs to all 
(hips, and varies in all; and there would be little doubt 
that it fhould be attributed to the influence of the iron 
about the veil'd, except for a curious fa£t, which, we 
underfland, has been afcertained; namely, that thecom- 
pafles called infulated compafies, which are placed in 
boxes of iron, and which are uninfluenced by external 
iron when brought near to them, are aftedled by the 
fhip- variation in the fame degree as the common com¬ 
pafies. This, which is now called the deviation, has 
been found to be much greater as the experiments go 
northward. This is accounted for from the circum- 
itance of the dip of the needle diminiftiing what is 
ufually called its polarity, and allowing it therefore 
to be more eafily aftedted by the local influence of the 
fliip. 
On Friday, Auguft the 7th, both the Ifabella and 
Alexander received conliderable damage, by getting 
jammed between two immenfe floes of ice, which were 
palling each other with a velocity of at lead two miles 
an hour. In the narrow lane between them, the two 
fhips at one time came unavoidably along-fide of each 
other; and in this pofition they were, fora ihort time, fo 
violently fqueezed together, that' little lefs than their 
total deltrudlion was apprehended for a few moments. 
Out of this perilous fituation, however, they extricated 
themfelves without fullering fo much as was dreaded, al¬ 
though not without conliderable damage; for the Alex¬ 
ander not only loft her fmali bower-anchor, the ihank of 
which was broken off clofe to the ftock, but three of the 
main, two of the fore, and one of the mizen, larboard 
chain-plates, were carried away by the ftock of the Ifa- 
bella’s fmali bower-anchor. The larboard-quarter boats, 
davids, a fquare jib-boom, crofs-jack yard, and a part of 
the larboard bulwark, were alfo carried away, by getting 
foul of the Ifabella. She fullered fome damage alio, 
although not quite fo much : her moft material lofs was 
that of one of her boats, which was deftroyed between 
the two fhips. Even after they had fucceeded in extri¬ 
cating themfelves from the above floes, they were far 
from being clear of danger ; for the ice ran with fuch ve¬ 
locity, that, during the whole of the afternoon and en- 
fuing night, they were kept in a conftant Hate of anxiety 
for the lafety of the ihips. About midnight, the crews 
of both the Ihips began to Jaw a dock in one of the 
foes; but, owing to the thicknefs of the ice, which was 
ieven feet, they made fo little progrefs, that the under¬ 
taking was abandoned after two hours’ labour. Inde¬ 
pendently of this, that part of the floe on which they 
were at work had, by this time, drifted very clofe to fome 
icebergs to leeward, infomuch that, if the dock had been 
cut, it would not have been fafe to get the Ihips into it 
under tliefe particular circumftances. 
On the morning of Saturday the 8th, between four and 
five o’clock, a conliderable fpace of clear water was made 
around the Ihips, by the opening of the floes. This fa¬ 
vourable change relieved their apprehenlions for the pre- 
fent: the ihips were got under fail, and two u'atches of 
the fhip’s company allowed to go to reft, of which they 
had much need, all hands having been almoft conltantly 
on deck for upwards of twenty-four hours, and expofed, 
during the wdiole of that time, to the moft inclement 
weather they had experienced iince they came into tliefe 
regions; for it blew very frefh, and fnowed without inter- 
million during the whole of the time. 
The weather having cleared up in the courfe of the 
morning, they found themfelves abreaft of the ifland, at 
the entrance of the fuppofed Wolftenholm’s Sound. In 
the afternoon, feveral of the officers of the Ifabella went 
ever the ice to this ifland, but did not meet with any 
thing to compeniiite them for fo long a walk, it being at 
lealt live miles from the fhips. Like feveral others on 
which they had landed, it appears to have been once in¬ 
habited ; for they found feveral graves on it, and a piece 
POLE. 
of ftick, fimilar to thofe which, agreeably to the informa¬ 
tion of Sackhoufe, are ufed by his countrymen for ftir- 
ring the oil and lichen in their lamps. The ice being 
clofe to the weftward, the Alexander made faft, in the 
afternoon, to the land-floe; and this afforded them an 
opportunity of procuring a few frefh meals for the 
fhip’s company, they having, in the courfe of two or 
three hours, killed three hundred rotges, (Alca alle.) 
To give fome idea of the immenfe number of thefe birds 
found here, one circumflance is mentioned, which will 
enable the reader to judge better of the prodigious flocks 
of them flying about than any defeription could convey 1 
it is, that not lefs than fifty-fix birds were killed by two 
dilcharges of a pair of fowling-pieces, thirty-two of them 
having been brought down by a Angle difeharge. 
We now come to what will be confidered by many as 
the moft interefting part of the narrative ; namely, the 
difeovery of a fmali and Angular tribe, or nation, who 
thought that the world to the fouth was all ice; genera¬ 
tion had fucceeded generation in a people who had never 
tailed the fruits of the earth, had no idea of a Supreme 
Being, who never had an enemy, and whofe chiefs had 
hitherto fuppofed themfelves monarchs of the univerfe. 
The opening feene (hall be given in the words of an offi¬ 
cer on-board Lieut. Parry’s fliip. 
“ On Sunday the 9th of Auguft, in the morning, juft as 
we were calling off from the floe, being in lat.76. 30. N. 
Ion. 70. 40. W. three fledges, drawn by dogs, were ob- 
ferved driving along the ice, towards the fhips. There 
were four perfons in them, two being in one fledge. 
After gazing for a little time at the fhips, they fled with 
as much (peed as if they had been purfued. They did 
not approach fufficiently near to enable us to form any 
thing like an accurate judgment of their appearance; 
but feveral on-board were of opinion, that they were 
larger men than thofe we law to the fouthward. In the 
hope of enticing them to return, provided we fhould be 
obliged to make any further flay at this place, or, at any 
event, with a view to fpread among the natives along 
the coaft a favourable report of us, Capt. Rofs put feveral 
firings of beads round the neck of one of thedogs we had 
procured from the Efquimaux in Jacob’s Bight, and left 
the animal on the floe of ice from which we had call oft". 
One of the flools on which the compafies were placed, 
when taking obfervations on the ice, was alfo left with 
firings of beads on it. As the fhips failed immediately 
after this was done, we could not allure ourfelves whe¬ 
ther they returned to pick up thefe articles or not; but 
it was probable that tire dog would, after a time, find out 
their habitations, and by that means lead to a difeovery 
of the reft of the prefents left for them. However, after 
working to the weftward the whole of the day, along the 
edge of the land-ice, we found, in the evening, that 
there was not any paflage round the point which forms 
the fouth weftern fide of the fuppofed Wolllenholm’s 
Sound. We therefore returned to the place we had 
flarted from in the morning; and there found the poor 
dog, together with the other prefents, which had been 
left untouched. They were all taken on-board; and 
about midnight we again made faft to the floe, nearly at 
the fpot from which we had flarted in the morning. 
“ On the following morning we obferved four fledges, 
drawn by dogs, coming towards the fhips. In order to 
induce thofe within them to approach, Sackhoufe was 
difpatched with prefents to meet them.” He accordingly 
approached with a fmali white flag, unattended and un¬ 
armed : his firft interview with the natives is curious; 
and he difplayed no lefs addrefs than courage. Having 
placed his flag at fome diftynce from the canal, he ad¬ 
vanced to the edge, and, taking off his hat, made friendly 
figns for thofe oppofite to approach as he did; this they 
partly complied with, halting at a diitance of three hun¬ 
dred yards, where they got out of their fledges, and fet 
up a loud fimultaneous halloo, which Sackhoufe anfwered 
by imitating it. They ventured tc> approach a little 
nearer., 
