PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. HI 



distressing to touch any metallic substance with the 

 naked hand in the open air ; it produced a feeling of 

 intense heat, and took off the skin. If the eye-piece of 

 a telescope touched the face, it occasioned an intense 

 burning pain ; the remedy was to cover them and other 

 instruments with soft leather. The officers, notwith- 

 standing, indulged themselves in walking for an hour or 

 two hi the middle of the day, in the depth of winter, 

 even when the thermometer was down to forty degrees 

 or even fifty degrees below zero, without experiencing 

 much inconvenience from this intense degree of cold, 

 provided always that there was no wind ; but the least 

 breeze made the exposure to it intolerable. 



The commander, finding himself and his ships shut in 

 for a long and dreary winter, devoted his attention, 

 with a mixture of firmness and kindness, to mitigate 

 those evils which, even in lower latitudes, had often 

 rendered an abode in the Arctic regions so fatal, and to 

 economize both the fresh provisions and fuel. 



From the first, Parry was aware that nothing acted 

 more strongly as an antiscorbutic than to keep the 

 men's minds in a lively and cheerful state. Arrange- 

 ments were accordingly made for the occasional per- 

 formance of a play, in circumstances certainly very 

 remote from any to which the drama appeared conge- 

 nial. Lieutenant Beechey was nominated stage-man- 

 ager, and the other gentlemen came forward as amateur 

 performers. The very expectation thus raised among 

 the sailors, and the bustle of preparing a room for the 

 purpose, were extremely beneficial ; and when the 

 North Georgian Theatre opened with "Miss in her 

 Teens," these hardy tars were convulsed with laughter. 

 The Arctic management was extremely popular. Thfc 

 >fficers had another source of amusement in the North 

 Georgian Gazette, f which Captain Sabiiae became 



