140 THE OCEAN. 



stantly adhered to it, and could not be removed with- 

 out its retaining a portion of the skin ; iron became 

 brittle, and such as was at all of inferior quality, 

 might be fractured by a blow ; brandy of English 

 manufacture and wholesale strength was frozen; 

 quicksilver, by a single process, might have been con- 

 solidated ; the sea, in some places, was in the act of 

 freezing, and in others appeared to smoke, and pro- 

 duced, in the formation of frost-rime, an obscurity 

 greater than that of the thickest fog. The subtle 

 principle of magnetism seemed to be, in some way or 

 other, influenced by the frost; for the deck-com- 

 passes became sluggish, or even motionless, while a 

 cabin- compass traversed with celerity. The ship be- 

 came enveloped in ice: the bows, sides, and lower 

 rigging were loaded ; and the rudder, if not repeat- 

 edly freed, would in a short time have been rendered 

 immovable."* In winter, however, the tempera- 

 ture being much lower, the effects of intense cold 

 are more manifest. Egede observes of Disco Island 

 in the month of January, " The ice and hoar-frost 

 reach through the chimney to the stove's mouth, 

 without being thawed by the fire in the day-time. 

 Over the chimney is an arch of frost, with little 

 holes, through which the smoke discharges itself. 

 The doors and walls are as if they were plastered 

 over with frost, and, which is scarcely credible, beds 

 are often frozen to the bedsteads. The linen is frozen 

 in the drawers. The upper eider-down bed and the 

 pillows are quite stiff with frost an inch thick, from 

 the breath." f Many of these results I have myself 



* Arct. Reg. i. 330. j Crantz, Hist, of Greenland. 



