376 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt 



the luxury of a warm meal, and having to perform the kind of labour to which 

 our people were subject. I have therefore remarked, that, previously to our 

 return to the ship, our strength was considerably impaired ; and, indeed, 

 there is reason to believe, that, very soon after entering upon the ice, the 

 physical energies of the men were gradually diminishing, although, for the 

 first few weeks, they did not appear to labour under any specific complaint. 

 This diminution of strength, which we considered to be principally owing to 

 the want of sufficient sustenance, became apparent, even after a fortnight, in 

 the lifting of the bread-bags and other heavy weights ; and I have no doubt 

 that, in spite of every care on the part of the officers, as well as Mr Bever- 

 ly's skilful and humane attention to their ailments, some of the men, who had 

 begun to fail before we quitted the ice, would, in a week or two longer, have 

 suffered very severely, and become a serious incumbrance, instead of an as- 

 sistance, to our party. As far as we were able to judge, without further trial, 

 Mr Beverly and myself were of opinion^ that^ in order to maintain the strength 

 of men thus employed, for several weeks together, an addition would be re- 

 quisite, of at least one-third more to the provisions which we daily issued. 

 I need scarcely remark how much this would increase the difficulty of equip- 

 ping such an expedition. 



" I cannot dismiss the subject of this enterprise, without attempting to ex- 

 plain, as far as I am able, how it may have happened that the ice over which 

 we passed was found to answer so little to the description of that observed 

 by the respectable authorities quoted in a former part of this volume. It 

 frequently occurred to us, in the course of our daily journeys, that this may, 

 in some degree, have arisen from our navigators having generally viewed the 

 ice from a considerable height. The only clear and commanding view on 

 board a ship is that from the crow's-nest ; and Bhipps's most important re- 

 marks concerning the nature of the ice to the north of Spitzbergen, were 

 made from a station several hundred feet above the sea ; and, as it is well 

 known how much the most experienced eye may thus be deceived, it is pos- 

 sible enough that the irregularities which cost us so much time and labour, 

 may, when viewed in this manner, have entirely escaped notice, and the 

 whole surface have appeared one smooth and level plain. 



"It is, moreover, possible that the broken state in which we unexpectedly 

 found the ice may have arisen, at least in |>art, from an unusually wet season, 

 preceded, perhaps, by a winter of less than ordinary severity. Of the latter 

 we have no means, of judging, there being na record, that 1 am aware of, of 

 the temperature of that or any other winter passed in the higher latitudes j 

 but, on comparing our meteorological register with some others, kept during 

 the corresponding season, and about the same latitude*, it does appear, that, 

 though no material difference is observable in the mean temperature of 

 the atmosphere, the quantity of rain which we experienced is considerably 

 greater than usual ; and it is well known how very rapidly ice is dissolved by 

 a fall of rain. At all events, from whatever cause it may have arisen, it is cer- 

 tain, that, about the meridian on which we proceeded northward in the boats, 

 the sea was in a totally different state from what Phipps experienced, as may 



* Particularly that of Mr Scoresby during the month of July, from. 1812 to 1818 inclxisive, and 

 Captain Franklin's, for July and August 1818. 



