The weather was at this time remarkably serene and clear; and although we saw a line of ice to the southward of us, lying in a direction nearly east and west, or parallel to the course on which we were steering, and some more land appeared to the westward, yet the space of open water was still so broad, and the prospect from the masthead, upon the whole, so flattering, that I thought the chances of our separation had now become greater than before; and I therefore considered it right to furnish Lieutenant Liddon with fresh instructions, and to appoint some new place of rendezvous in case of unavoidable separation from the Hecla. At ten o'clock, after having had a clear view of the ice and of the land about sunset, and finding that there was at present no passage to the westward, we hauled off to the southeast, in the hope of finding some opening in the ice to the southward, by which we might get round in the desired direction. We were encouraged in this hope by a dark "water-sky" to the southward; but, after running along the ice till half past eleven without perceiving any opening, we again bore up. There was in this neighbourhood a great deal of that particular kind of ice called by the sailors "dirty ice," on the surface of which were strewed sand, stones, and, in some instances, moss: ice of this kind must, of course, at one time or other, have been in close contact with the land. At ten A.M. I despatched Captain Sabine and Mr. Ross to the eastern point of the island, which we were about to round in the ships, in order to make the necessary observations, and to examine the natural productions of the shore. Our latitude at noon was 75° 03' 12", long. 103° 44' 37", and the depth of water forty fathoms. The gentlemen reported, on their return, that they had landed on a sandy beach, near the east point of the island, which they found to be more productive, and altogether more interesting, than any other part of the shores of the Polar regions which we had yet visited. The remains of Esquimaux habitations were found in four different places. Six of these, which Captain Sabine had an opportunity of examining, and which are situated on a level sandy bank, at the side of a small ravine near the sea, are described by him as consisting of stones rudely placed in a circular, or, rather, an elliptical form. They were from seven to ten feet in diameter; the broad, flat sides of the stones standing vertically, and the whole structure, if such it may be called, being exactly similar to that of the summer huts of the Esquimaux which we had seen at Hare Island the preceding year. Attached to each of them was a smaller circle, generally four or five feet in diameter, which had probably been the fireplace. The small circles were placed indifferently as to their direction from the huts to which they belonged; and from the moss and sand which covered some of the lower stones, particularly those which composed the flooring