228 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
In the morning of the 29th, we fell in with an 
extraordinary chain of icebergs, which obliged us 
to stand nearly thirty miles off shore to double it. 
These icebergs were so numerous, that 140 were 
counted from the mast-head at one time. Our la¬ 
titude was 69° 35' 47", by meridian observation ; 
and the longitude 21° 39' W., by chronometer. 
Having a light breeze from the northward, we 
steered to the WNW, until we came within six¬ 
teen miles of the land, and then proceeded to the 
westward, along shore. At 8 r. M. we were be¬ 
calmed near a chain of floes and icebergs, stretch¬ 
ing across our track. There were numbers of open¬ 
ings, however, in the chain, so that had we had 
a breeze, we could easily have penetrated through 
it, and could have reached a situation beyond, 
where there appeared to be a sufficiently free na¬ 
vigation. Here we made fast to a floe, until we 
replenished our stock of fresh-water, from one of 
the numerous pools upon its surface. 
A little before midnight the sea froze all over, 
though the thermometer never sank below 31° at 
the height of the ship’s deck. The sky being per¬ 
fectly clear, and the sun in the horizon, this ef¬ 
fect was attributable to the radiation, productive 
of cold, on which Dr Wells has founded his in¬ 
teresting theory of Dew. A curious optical de¬ 
ception occurred, when the sun was just about 
