PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 135 



Btolen treasure, there being no less than two spoons and 

 a pewter plate secreted within its capacious cavity. 



The end of September now approached, and Parry 

 found himself suddenly in the depth of winter. An 

 alarming symptom appeared in the rapid formation of 

 the soft or pancake ice on the surface of the deep. The 

 obstacle thereby occasioned was at first so slight as to 

 be scarcely felt by a ship before a brisk gale ; but it 

 continually increased, till at length the vessel, rolling 

 from side to side, became like Gulliver bound by the 

 feeble hands of Lilliputians. At the same time the 

 various pieces of drift-ice, which were tossing in the 

 sea without, had been cemented into one great field 

 called " the ice," that threatened every moment to bear 

 down upon the brigs and dash them in pieces. Under 

 these circumstances, the navigators could no longer 

 even attempt to reach the land, but determined to saw 

 into the heart of an adjoining floe, and there take up 

 their winter quarters. There was about half a mile to 

 penetrate, which, in the soft state of the pancake ice, 

 was not very laborious. It was, however, far from 

 pleasant, as it bended like leather beneath their feet, 

 and caused them sometimes to sink into the water, 

 whence it was impossible they could escape without a 

 very cold bath. 



An observation of Parry shows that the Arctic cli- 

 mate, equally with our own, is influenced by a change 

 of the wind. Thus, on the 20th of October, when the 

 wind was N. N. W., the thermometer fell to - -10 ; but, 

 veering to the S. E. on the 24th and 25th, it rose to 

 -f-23. " I may possibly/ 7 he says, "incur the charge 

 of affectation in stating that this temperature was much 

 too high to be agreeable to us ; but it is, nevertheless, 

 the fact, that everybody felt and complained of the 

 change. This is explained by their clothing, bedding, 



