UNEQUAL REFRACTION. 
117 
vigated the globe in the Uranio. A small island 
lying to the westward of Bontekoe, I named after 
Captain Bennet, of the Venerable whaler, who 
furnished me with some chronometrical observa¬ 
tions on the longitudes of two or three adjoining 
headlands, which very nearly corresponded with 
my own. Our latitude at noon was 73° 1'; 
longitude, by chronometer, 18° 1' W. 
In the evening, we stretched a few miles to the 
eastward, and fell in with some whales. Two 
ships that were on the “ ground” before us made 
captures. Several other vessels afterwards came 
up, but neither they nor we were successful. 
On the 19th of June, the weather was calm 
and clear ; the sun warm, and almost oppres¬ 
sive. The sea reflected objects as accurately as a 
mirror, its surface for hours being unruffled by a 
breeze. The strong action of the sun’s rays soon 
produced such an unequal density in the atmo¬ 
sphere, that some of the most extraordinary phe¬ 
nomena to which this circumstance gives rise, 
were exhibited. The land, to appearance, was 
suddenly brought fifteen or twenty miles nearer 
us ; its boldness and clearness, as seen from the 
deck, being superior to what its elevation and 
distinctness had previously been, as seen from the 
mast-head. The ice about the horizon assumed 
various singular forms:—hummocks became ver- 
