.1 
ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTIONS. 1,45 
same influence, and presented very, extraordinary 
and often beautiful resemblances to magnificent 
architectural structures. 
These interesting exhibitions were at length 
closed by the commencement of a dense fog, winch 
was productive of a most disagreeable transition 
of feeling:—from the exhilarating enjoyment of 
a pure atmosphere, and warm sunshine, with ex¬ 
tensive and interesting prospects, we were in a 
moment enveloped by a depressing and impene¬ 
trable gloom. Our latitude at noon was 72° 10', 
and longitude 18° O' W. Saw two or three whales. 
The two following days were intensely foggy, 
so that we could seldom see the ice above a hun¬ 
dred yards. During a few hours when it was at 
the densest, it neither Vetted the rigging nor the 
decks of the ship,—a circumstance not very com¬ 
mon in the arctic fogs ; but it was followed by a 
fog so damp, that it loaded the sails and rigging 
with ice. 
On the 12th, we had the wind almost all round 
the compass, and blowing of various strengths, 
between a gale and a calm. Having, stood for 
several hours to the westward in the thick, we. 
found ourselves nearer to the land, when it clear¬ 
ed up, than we had hitherto been. Our longi¬ 
tude, by chronometer, was 20° 0' W. Bearings, 
and sketches of the land to a considerable extent 
K 
