The Sun.
London, England, 1819-01-08 00:00:00

Pleasant, aod the sea in the obo7e f t e
part of the hay almost wholly tree trom ices ex'
epting nOw and then a solitary ice-berg,
or
,aground.By the way, we ,could have 11°
doubt, from the'imnrense glaciers which filled tile
yanks along the shores of Bitfio's Bay, and tlle
gieat depth of water elcAe in wit them, that the
many hundreds of these enormous masses We "'et
with in our progress through Davis' .traits, some.
aground, and other 3 afloat, bad their origin
this bay. The appearance of these bergs is stir'
gularly curious, exhibiting the ruined Corms
castles and cathedrals, with their walls, gatesl
towers, and spires, in every state of decay ; ori
they ale somoimes so corWeiely perforalcd,
boats may sail through them, in which case, if
the sun should happen to shine out, it is impossi-
ble to conceive a more brilliant sight that? thiii&
which is thin` displayed. It is a pcene to be We'
with only in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments;
or it we are to IJok „for its parallel in real life,
Hancock's glass shop in Cockspur-street, in
sunny mocrung in the month of May, the pie'.
tune_ in .miniattire of, an excavated ice-berg._

_ .
On the 30th august, when in latitude 74 deg'
or thereabouts,
we suddenly deepened our water,
from 150 or 160 fathoms, to the Amazing depth
of 750 fathoms, and encreased its temperaturg
front 32 deg. to 36 deg. On the weather clear-
ing tip, we 1,-Cuad ourselves abreast of a larg°
opening, which we had no doubt, from its lath
tude, was that named by Baffin, " Jig JAPes
LancasttA's Sound." Frain the northern to th,c
sonthein htadlands, it appeared to be at kaSt
Miles in width. As we knew that Baffin bad not
eutered this sound, but stood away from it to the
i
south-eastward, its appear ,nee inspired' liope
.1,3 y into every countenance ; and every officer ail'l.
Man on the instant, as it were, made tip his min"
that this must be the north-west passage ;
width at the opening, the extraordinary depth of
water, the increased temperature,. and the stir:
founding sea, and the .t.,:trait so perfectly ire"
tram ice, that not a parti, le Was seed floattttgr
were circumstances so encouraging, Bud I° m thing 41..:
lerent fro an- y we had yet Seen, that every
heart panted to explore this , passage which `vas
dto cotuct_us all to glory and to tortune. TVe
had hitherto
met with nothibg that could in the
lived',
well, degree damp our spirits ; hadlive
suffered no fatigue, either iron) anxiety or
bodily exertion ; we had seen nothing like (lair
ger; and we had been animated by one scow'
ment ; but nothing had yet occurred to inspire 05
with the hope of success in the great enterprize;
we had proceeded cheerfully, but without entlin.7
siasm, and our ardour had rather, diminished 84
we begun to diminish our latitude. But to filla
so grand an opening under such circumstances as
t
have mentioned,'and in the very spot too of
others most likely to lead us at once 10 th.°
northern coast of America, was so unexpecient
and at the same time ioexhilara!ing, that I firtO:
the
believeie every
pleasure
c fcreature,onn
°tatd r
ia,1,1 n cdici tet
ch
to his friend, either from the eastern or the
western shores of the PaCific. IVe stood direct.,
ly into this spacious inlet ; the. width con-
tinued
1 pretty Hearty the saute, as far as we could
see, and pe,a) :lEi
e- 1 e of ice On the water ; neither
was there any appearance of land a-head. Every
breast beat high, and every one was desirous to
mount the crows-'nest, to look out for the open-
log which should conduct us into the Polar Sea,
near the coait of the main-land of America.. IV°
had not run, llowever, above ten leagues wit"'
the. inlet, when the Isabella bore tip, and ()leanly
the Alexander did the same, and we stand out of
the inlet; why, we could not conjecture, but tin'
der nit sail. Our Commodore, as it alter%vards
'Appeared, had seen the land at the ,bottom of tha'
inlet. it is impossible to describe to you Ill°,
gloom that re • t• ry''
as mime( tate y spread over es.e
countenance, all their sanguine hopes being "'":
tttiexpetwca:
tes:6liys,aotd af,aistilli:eetii;intso:ali d
the tetup~
ot h:ee
spot where the Isabella bore up, the depth u-
mater
tinued the same as at the entrance : the Ali'xau*".
der was about lour or live miles a-stern of her
consor
olland was visitne btultienodtirt•ehcetiloesn otfltrria:lc:c.
from her crows-nesi.*

* The Crows-Nest is a kind of box, sufficient to hold
milli; generally a cask, fixed near the toast-head, to protect
the observer trouts cold, antl'ettable snarl to look out, tor livltates
or open pieces of wal er.—(Ent iron.)
[7'o be continued J-