the
Plants.--Birds become numerous.--Commence cutting a Canal through
the Ice for liberating the Ships.--Illness and Decease of John
Reid and William Souter.--Breaking up of the Ice in the
Bay.--Account of Winter Island.--Abstract of Observations made
there.

TECHNICAL TERMS PECULIAR TO THE NAVIGATION AMONG ICE

BAY-ICE.--Ice newly formed upon the surface of the sea. The
expression is, however, applied also to ice a foot or two in
thickness.

BESET.--The situation of a ship when closely surrounded by ice.

BIGHT.--An indentation in a floe of ice, like a bay, by which name
it is sometimes called.

BLINK.--A peculiar brightness in the atmosphere, often assuming an
arch-like form, which is generally perceptible over ice or land
covered with snow. The blink of land, as well as that over _large_
quantities of ice, is usually of a yellowish cast.

BORE.--The operation of "boring" through loose ice consists in
entering it under a press of sail, and forcing the ship through by
separating the masses.

CALF.--A mass of ice lying under a floe near its margin, and, when
disengaged from that position, rising with violence to the surface
of the water. See TONGUE.

CLEAR WATER.--Any part of the sea unencumbered with ice.

CROW'S NEST.--A small circular house like a cask, fixed at the
masthead, in which the look-out man sits, either to guide the ship
through the ice or to give notice of whales.

DOCK.--In a floe may be natural or artificial; the former being
simply a small "bight," in which a ship is placed to secure her
from the danger of external pressure; and the latter, a square
space cut out with saws for a similar purpose.

FIELD.--A sheet of ice generally of great thickness, and of too
great extent to be seen over from a ship's masthead.

FLINCHING.--The operation of stripping a sea-animal of its skin
and blubber.

FLOE.--The same as a field, except that its extent can be
distinguished from a ship's masthead. A "bay-floe" is a floe of
ice newly formed.

FLOE-PIECE.--An expression generally applied to small pieces of
floes, not more than a furlong square.

A HOLE or POOL of Water.--A small space of "clear water," when the
rest of the sea is covered with ice.

HUMMOCK.--A mass of ice rising to a considerable height above the
general level of a floe, and forming a part of it. Hummocks are
originally raised by the pressure of floes against each other.

LAND-ICE.--Ice attached to the land, either in