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The Source
Whale Islands. July 6th
173
-1-
Lat 69.5[']9 N
Long 53.13.W.
My dear Dr. Richardson
Our companion the transport
will probably leave us in the course
of this week, on her return home
so I will not lose the opportunity
of sending you some account of
our proceedings thus far. We
had a voyage of 21 days across,
a heavy gale carrying us round
Cape Farewell and leaving us
in June weather and smooth
water under the high coast of
Greenland about 50 miles North
of it. From that time which was
about the 23rd June we had much
calm weather, and made
but little way so that we
did not arrive here till the
4th as we kept close ashore
and had [a] good opportunity
Pages 2 and 3
-2-
of seeing all the line of coast
I did not so much regret the
delay, especially as I believe
we may still consider that no
time has been lost. Nothing
can be finer than the scenery
along the coast of Greenland. It
consists of one continuous range
of rugged mountains, rising
abruptly from the level of the
sea to the height of 4 or 5000
feet, and frequently presenting
most remark able peaks and
M[oun]t[ai]n forms. When we first saw
land it was almost entirely
covered with snow, but we have
already observed the change which
some fine warm weather has
caused the black peaks
and ridges now showing them-
selves, and in many places
Page 3
-3-
to deep clefts and ravines.
We have seen a very great
quantity of ice in the form
of bergs, but no appearance of
anything more serious, and by
the accounts we can gather here
from a few Danish boatsmen
we hope to find that the season
has been a mild one, & that
no great difficulty will offer itself
to our getting North. Our na-
-turalists have been busily
employed ever since we entered
the bay, and Goodsir especially
has had as much as he could
possibly do, in examining the
lower marine animals which
we have caught in great numbers
medusae, crustacea. etc. We
dredged several times in
depths of from 100 to 240 fathoms
And [illegible lines]
Page 4
Post - 1650 MS 51
-4-
found that extensive cod bank[s]
exist off the coast in latitude
62° to 66° on which during the
calm weather our ships companies
got well supplied with fish.
The evening before we got up here
we saw close to the ships a large
herd of walruses, which allowed
us to pass nearly over them &
gave us good opportunities of
observing their strange appearance[s].
These and the 100 icebergs then
in sight reminded us forcibly
that we were really in Arctic
regions, a fact which the seas
and sky above us might have
led us to forget. These
islands are little more
than barren rocks, although I
must say that amongst the
few plants and [---] which do
appear [had], some are very beau-
-tiful! The anchorage is in a
Notes:
The letter is incomplete, with only four pages (on a single piece of paper) being extant in the collections of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois. If any readers of this edition believe they have information about the location of the missing page(s), they are encouraged to contact us at sourcelabuiuc@gmail.com.
