g their friends. On the dispersion of the fog at the time, we
discovered an oomiak, filled with people paddling, and some other men
wading towards us. [Sidenote: Saturday, 5th.] It being calm, and the
swell having abated, we did not wait for their arrival, but embarked at
one in the morning of the 5th, and pursued our course to the westward,
keeping on the outside of the reefs. The water, however, was very
shallow, even at the distance of two miles, and we were much teased by
the boats repeatedly touching the ground. This was particularly the
case when we arrived opposite to the large river, which was named in
honour of the late Mr. Canning, where we found the water perfectly
fresh, three miles from the land. The ice being more loose abreast of
this river, we pulled out to seaward into deep water. The land was then
hidden from our view by the haze, though not more than four miles
distant, and our course was directed by the masses of ice lying aground;
but at the end of three miles, our further progress was stopped at six
A.M., by the ice being closely packed on the outer border of a reef, in
latitude 70 degrees 7 minutes N.; longitude 145 degrees 27 minutes W.

We perceived, on landing, by the driving of the loose pieces of ice,
that the tide was running strongly to the eastward, through the channel
we had passed along, and that it continued to do so, until ten this
morning, during which time the water was falling. It changed at ten, and
the water rose one foot before one P.M. This observation would indicate
the flood to come from the eastward, though contrary to what was
remarked at Barter Island the day before; but in a sea so closely beset
with ice, no accurate observations as to the direction of the tide could
be obtained.

The Rocky Mountains either terminated abreast of our present situation,
or receded so far to the southward as to be imperceptible from the coast
a few miles beyond this reef. The ice being somewhat loosened by the
flood tide, we embarked at one P.M., to force the boats through the
narrow channels, and in the course of two hours reached Point Brownlow,
where we landed, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the ice could
be avoided by passing into the bay that then opened to our view,
trending to the south. We perceived that this bay was in every part
flat, and strewed with stones; and that the only prospect of getting
forward was by entering the ice again, and pushing to an island about
two mil