according as one or other of the opposite opinions alluded to
should be corroborated. It will readily be conceived, then, how
great our anxiety was for a change of the westerly wind and swell,
which, on the 1st of August, set down Sir James Lancaster's Sound,
and prevented our making much progress. Several whales were seen
in the course of the day, and Mr. Allison remarked that this was
the only part of Baffin's Bay in which he had ever seen young
whales; for it is a matter of surprise to the whalers in general,
that they seldom or never meet with young ones on this fishery, as
they are accustomed to do in the seas of Spitzbergen.

The Griper continued to detain us so much, that I determined on
making the best of our way to the westward, and ordered the Hecla
to be hove to in the evening, and sent Lieutenant Liddon an
instruction, with some signals, which might facilitate our meeting
in case of fog; and I appointed as a place of rendezvous the
meridian of 85° west, and as near the middle of the sound as
circumstances would permit. As soon, therefore, as the boat
returned from the Griper, we carried a press of sail, and in the
course of the evening saw the northern shore of the sound looming
through the clouds which hung over it.

The weather being clear in the evening of the 2d, we had the first
distinct view of both sides of the sound; and the difference in
the character of the two shores was very apparent; that on the
south consisting of high and peaked mountains, completely
snow-clad, except on the lower parts, while the northern coast has
generally a smoother outline, and had, comparatively with the
other, little snow upon it; the difference in this last respect
appearing to depend principally on the difference in their