350 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
ice, and gives it a universal tendency to leeward, 
operates more powerfully on light and hummocky 
ice, than on heavy and flat ice, so that the two 
former descriptions drift faster than the two lat¬ 
ter. This general tendency of the ice is modified 
by the influence of other ice in connection or con¬ 
tact with it, also by the different forms which the 
sheets of ice assume, and by the position in which 
they lie, in reference to the wind. For instance: 
while circular sheets of ice, or sheets having a re¬ 
gular polygonal form, generally drift directly “ be¬ 
fore the wind,”—oblong pieces pursue a medium 
course between that of the direction of the wind, 
and the point to which the leeward extremity of 
their longest axis is directed. Hence it is evi¬ 
dent, that the united effect of these various causes 
influencing “ the set of the ice,” can never be ful- 
ly anticipated; although long experience in navi¬ 
gating the polar seas, will enable a person of ob¬ 
servation, in most cases, to form a tolerably cor¬ 
rect judgment of the safety or danger of almost 
any situation. Such being the anxieties and dan¬ 
gers attendant on the navigation among the north¬ 
ern ices, the relief that the captains of the whalers 
experience, when they get clear out to sea, must 
be in some degree appreciated. My Father has 
been heard to express his feelings on this subject, 
when fairly at sea, with the characteristic obser¬ 
vation, that his watch was out. 
