Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/387

Rh daily tides. It was high-water to-day at noon; the flood came from the westward, but did not exceed two feet; and it was the day of full moon. The hours of the tide at Cape Alexander throughout the year, therefore, correspond with those at Point Barrow, fifty degrees of longitude to the westward. The soundings in the strait near the land had augmented from four fathoms at Cape Franklin to eighteen at Cape Alexander. The water was thoroughly salt and beautifully clear, the bottom consisting of sand or stones. Its temperature four feet below the surface was 35° while that of the air at midday was 56°. As a substitute for drift wood, of which I well knew from last year's experience that we were no longer to expect any, we now began to use dry seaweed and dwarf willows, which, while the weather continued temperate, answered sufficiently well. The dip of the needle at Cape Alexander was 88° 15′, shewing a great stride towards the magnetic pole.

On the 27th we advanced four or five miles, in imminent peril of being carried away by the driving ice; and it was noon of the following day before we were able, by the aid of the tide, to get round Trap Cape, when we found a lane of water leading along the shore to the extreme point of my progress the previous year. The