TIDES OF DAVY’S SOUND. 263 
withheld. And if that philosophy which investi¬ 
gates the laws, properties, and phenomena of mat¬ 
ter, is worthy of occupying the minds of those 
who stand highest in the scale of human intelli¬ 
gence ; the philosophy of a Particular Providence, 
by which we discover innumerable marks of bene¬ 
ficence towards ourselves, which can scarcely fail to 
excite grateful feelings in our hearts towards the 
Author of them, must, in a far higher degree, be 
worthy of the consideration and regard of all 
classes of mankind. 
The fierce tides in the opening of Davy’s Sound, 
when there is much ice about, render the approach 
to the land, especially on the southern side of the 
Sound, not a little dangerous: For, when any of 
the heavy floes take the ground, or come in con¬ 
tact with grounded bergs, or other ice, so as to 
be brought up, the neighbouring floes arc swept 
against them by the strong influx of water, with 
great rapidity and with astonishing force. Be¬ 
sides, the set of the tide is so various, in different 
positions (determined probably by the nature of 
the adjoining coasts, or inlets, and possibly in¬ 
fluenced by the position of the ice) that the effect 
can seldom be fully estimated. On passing the 
point of the floe which w T e experienced so much 
difficulty in doubling, there was a rippling on the 
surface of the water, like “ a race,” arising appa- 
