1854.] REMARKS ON STATE OF THE ICE. 1G1 



These numbers, excluding Port Bowen, which appears 

 to possess a temperature peculiar to itself, resulting pro- 

 bably from its being protected from easterly and open 

 to westerly influences, afford pretty conclusive evidence 

 that if any change is to be inferred, it must be taken for 

 increased cold. And I am very much inclined to sus- 

 pect, that if our temperatures for the late season had 

 been registered on the land instead of the floe, that a 

 trivial increase of cold, perhaps 1*5, might have re- 

 sulted. 



April 9. I had fully anticipated a decided increase of 

 temperature, indeed of plus signs, before this period ; but 

 appearances, as well as past experience, already teach us 

 that cold is yet to prevail, and that we shall have to re- 

 cord the coldest season experienced possibly by human 

 beings. The five-monthly mean of cold has been already 

 given in the previous table, and nine days have elapsed, 

 still exhibiting a temperature of 11. On the 10th it 

 reached 1, and another attempt was made on the 

 smooth floe ice to determine the question of freezing be- 

 neath : the thickness proved to be five feet six inches, 

 and my former theory as to the under surface was in this 

 instance completely verified. The ice had not only 

 ceased to form, but the lower portion, of two inches in 

 depth, was entirely composed of loosely cohering separate 

 crystals, yielding easily to the pressure of the finger. 

 The ice in contact with these crystals was also in what 

 we should term a rotten state, in a disintegrating condi- 

 tion, and easily penetrated by a knife or piece of wood. 

 I tried further experiments on the water itself at the 

 bottom. This was effected by closing the neck of the 



VOL. II. M 



