The days were temperate and clear, and
the nights not cold, though a very thin plate of ice was usually
formed upon the surface of the sea in sheltered places, and in the
pools of water upon the floes. After sunset we descried land,
appearing very distant, through the middle of the strait, which we
considered to be that on the American side of the Welcome. At this
time, also, we observed some ice in the centre of the strait
heavier than that which covered the rest of the sea, and
apparently aground in shoal water, as afterward proved to be the
case.
On the 15th we were within a league of a remarkable headland on
Southampton Island, which I named CAPE BYLOT, as being probably
the westernmost land seen by that navigator in 1615. In the mean
time, the Hecla, still continuing very closely beset, had, in
spite of every exertion, drifted back with the ice several miles
to the northward and eastward, so that in the course of the
evening we lost sight of her altogether. This latter circumstance
was, however, owing in great measure to the extraordinary
refraction upon the horizon, making terrestrial objects at the
distance of six or seven miles appear flattened down or depressed,
as well as otherwise much deformed.
At six P.
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