120 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
CHAPTER V. 
, , t 
LOSS OF A IIAUl’OONEU BY A WHALE.-TWO WHALES 
AN1) THREE NARWALS TAKEN.—ANATOMICAL STRUC¬ 
TURE OF THE NARWAL. — REMARKABLE ATMOSPHE¬ 
RIC REFRACTIONS. 
W e had a breeze of wind on the 20th, under 
■which we cruised the whole day, among floes and 
drift-ice, in searcli of whales. A straggler was 
occasionally seen and pursued, though without 
success; and, towards night, two or three were 
discovered together, by the glass, at the distance 
of about a league. All our boats were dis¬ 
patched in pursuit, while we endeavoured to fol¬ 
low them with the ship, through a narrow channel, 
between a large floe and a quantity of crowded 
drift-ice. But the wind being against us, and the 
ice closing, we had to work in places not a hundred 
yards wide, and these encumbered with “ pieces,” 
until at length there was scarcely room to get the 
ship round. Not having a boat on board, we were 
in much perplexity how to act; but having for¬ 
tunately grappled a floe, we warped smartly to 
windward, and just escaped at the moment that 
the floe and loose ice came in contact, close to the 
