55 



CHAPTER III. 



Run of the Ice. Driven aground. Barrier Limits. Crystal Palace. 

 Reflections on Nature's Gifts. Tidal Effects on Ship. Last View 

 of the Sun. Ice lifting the Ship. Visit of a Wolf. Inauguration 

 of Crystal Palace. Frost-bites. Increased Comfort. Peculiar Co- 

 incidence of Temperature. Coast-line Fissures. Freezing beneath 

 the Floe. State of the Crews. Christmas Day. Thermometers 

 inserted in the Snow. Effect of Wind on Snow. 



THE excitement and duties attending our late flow of 

 events has almost withdrawn our attention from our 

 merciful escape, not forgotten, indeed, but clouded by 

 anticipation of the eventful future. We are indeed to be 

 compared to the unfledged young of the tern, born and 

 left upon the rock at the termination of the season, to 

 perish, unless "He who all protects" extends his shield 

 over us. Day by day events confuse all our fine-spun 

 theories, and we find ourselves again cast upon our backs. 

 On this, the 20th of October, and late in the season, we 

 are as much bereft of any rational feeling of security, as 

 in August last. Such may be our case in the November 

 gale ! 



Hardly had these observations been penned, when 

 that peculiar unmusical sound resulting from squeezing 



