241 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
because of the hope there was of obtaining amuse¬ 
ment and useful employment, by extending my 
surveys and researches in the latitude of 72°, a 
parallel in which I had had but few observations 
on the position of the land, and these obtained 
very imperfectly, in consequence of the great dis¬ 
tance at which they were made. 
As soon, therefore, as we had obtained a little 
rejst, we made sail, and proceeded to the SW., 
W.andNW., accordingly as the openings among 
the fields and floes admitted the best passage; 
and though the extent to which we could see was 
very small, on account of a heavy and incessant 
fall of rain, we accomplished, in the course of the 
day, a distance of about 50 miles. At night, we 
made fast to a floe, with the expectation of being 
able to reach the land the next day. 
