The wind died away on the morning of the 1st of September, and the
fog was succeeded by snow and sleet, which still rendered the
atmosphere extremely thick. At a quarter before four A.M., I was
informed by the officer of the watch that a breeze had sprung up,
and that there was very little ice near the ships. Anxious to take
advantage of these favourable circumstances, I directed all sail
to be made to the westward: there was no difficulty in complying
with the first part of this order; but to ascertain which way the
wind was blowing, and to which quarter of the horizon the ship's
head was to be directed, was a matter of no such easy accomplishment;
nor could we devise any means of determining this question till five
o'clock, when we obtained a sight of the sun through the fog, and
were thus enabled to shape our course, the wind being moderate from
the northward.

At one A.M. on the 2d, a star was seen, being the first that had
been visible to us for more than two months.

As we were making no way to the westward, I left the ship,
accompanied by a large party of officers and men, and was soon
after joined by the Griper's boats. The basis of this land is
sandstone; but we met with limestone also, occurring in loose
pieces on the surface, and several lumps of coal were brought in
by the parties who had traversed the island in different
directions. Our sportsmen were by no means successful, having seen
only two deer, which were too wild to allow them to get near them.
The dung of these animals, however, as well as that of the
musk-ox, was very abundant, especially in those places where the
moss was most luxuriant; every here and there we came to a spot of