Page:Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, in the Year 1821.djvu/72

44 points of the compass, from south-west by north to south-east, with ice. Here we lay to, as a strong gale from the north-east enabled the ship to keep in a quiet situation; and, as it was a wind best suited to open the ice to the northward, we might proceed, should circumstances yet occur, to a greater latitude without much loss of time. The gale continuing, we kept our situation during the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first: the latter day being Sunday, the crew attended the usual divine service, consisting of prayers and an excellent sermon.

The gale having abated, under the presumption that it might have opened a passage we sailed to the north-west, for about five hours, when, not being able to proceed any longer in that direction, and the blue colour of the water being still discouraging, we sailed to the south-west, into a bight, in which were streams of ice with very heavy hummocks upon them. Feelings of disappointment, at not having seen any whales, were now apparent in every countenance: I shared in them most sensibly, and retired to my cabin, to bury my annoyance in sleep, in which I had not indulged more than an hour or two, when I was aroused by the joyful sound of "A fish!! Lower away the boats!"; and the greatest imaginable bustle prevailed upon the deck. No mind can possibly conceive the momentary transition effected on my spirits, at the idea that the time was at length arrived, when, from practical observation, I should be able to form a decided opinion, whether