CHAPTER VI.
Discoveries on the Coast from Return Reef up to Boat Extreme.
July 24th.—We coasted along Gwydyr Bay, which proved less extensive than we supposed on entering it. The extreme lowness of the land on this part of the coast is very deceptive to the eye when viewed from any distance, and a highly refracting atmosphere increases the illusion. We applied the names of Point Back and Point Beechey to the projections agreeing nearest with the hummocks of land seen by Franklin. I must, however, remark that the bearings are different; and that Point Beechey, distant twelve miles[1] from Return Reef, is certainly invisible from thence in any state of the atmosphere. The whole bay is protected from the sea by a chain of gravel reefs, on the outside of which the ice lay hard aground. The
- ↑ All the coasting distances throughout the journal are given in geographical miles.
