PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 147 



winter, appeared, at all events, a serious consideration. 

 By returning to Igloolik, they would be ready to catch 

 the earliest opening, which was expected to take place 

 on the eastern side, from whence a few days would 

 bring them back to their present station. 



On the 30th of October, by the usual operation of 

 sawing, the ships were established in a harbor at Igloo- 

 lik. The ensuing season was passed with the most 

 careful attention to the health and comfort of the crews ; 

 but, though their spirits did not sink, there appears to 

 have been, on the whole, less of gayety and lightness 

 of heart than in the two former years. We hear nothing 

 of the drama, or even of the school. In this position, 

 north of Winter Island, they were deprived for about 

 seven weeks of the sun's cheering beams. On the 2d of 

 December refraction still showed, from the deck of the 

 Fury, about the sixteenth part of his disk. At the New 

 Year, Arcturus and Capella, stars of the first magnitude, 

 were visible half an hour before and after mid-day. On 

 the 5th of January, 1823, the horizon was so brightly 

 suffused with red, that they hoped ere long to see the 

 sun's orb burst forth ; but a fortnight of thick fog occa- 

 sioned a disappointment. On the 19th, the sky having 

 cleared, they saw him rise, attended by two parhelia, 



PARHELIA. 



and botn crews turned out to enjoy the novelty and 

 splendor of this cheering spectacle. One of these par- 



