SURVEY CONTINUED. 
177 
On the 20th, the weather was generally foggy, 
but it fortunately cleared up near the land, where 
we were, in the morning, and continued fine until 
2 p. nr., so that I had sufficient time for making 
all requisite observations. At 8 a. m. we tacked 
within four or five miles of the shore, and within 
a mile of a small island near the edge of the land- 
ice. Here I took a series of angles, and then 
standing off a sufficient distance, I took corre¬ 
sponding bearings, and also another set, on again 
returning to the land-ice. The intersections gave 
me the position of the most remarkable parts of 
the coast, within twenty-five miles. At noon, 
the latitude observed was 70° 44' 57" N.; the 
longitude, by chronometer, 21° 9' W.; and the 
variation of the compass 44° 30' W. Depth of 
water 1 55 fathoms. 
The land at this time surveyed and projected 
(including fifteen miles of coast to the southward 
and twenty-five to the northward) is mountainous, 
dark, and sterile in the extreme. Nothing can 
be conceived more rugged than it is; yet nothing 
that I have ever seen equals it in bold grandeur, 
and interesting character. There is nothing in 
it that is tame, smooth, or insignificant. The 
mountains consist of an innumerable series of ele¬ 
vated peaks, cones, or pyramids, with the most 
rugged assemblage of sharp rocks jutting from the 
M 
