178 



THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



that had appeared so uniform a few weeks before was now 

 tumbled about, and in a state of greater confusion than an 

 old Turkish graveyard. Tracks began to radiate from the 

 ship, and the noise and vibration of distant ramming were 

 terrific, making even the dogs whine. 



THE ICE IN MOTION. 



November 3d was a calm, starlight night. I got good star 

 observations, with Melville marking time, at eleven P. M. I 

 was working them up, when a crack was heard, and we found 

 that the floe had split, and that the ice on the port side had 

 drifted off, leaving the ship lying in a half cradle on her 

 starboard bilge. The water looked smooth and beautiful, 

 and there was no noise save that of four dogs which had 

 drifted off with the port ice. We had previously taken in 

 the observatory, and had prepared for such an accident, but 

 on the starboard side the steam-cutter and the men's out- 

 house had been left. We got the steam-cutter aboard, but 

 left the outhouse standing. 



And here let me mention an interesting fact. About six- 

 teen months afterward, the Indian Anequin caine in, in a 



