Nov. 1857. THE DOGS' SORTEE. 55 



therefore no seals. Grey dawn at ten o'clock, and dark at 

 two ; the moon, everywhere the sailor's friend, is a source of 

 great comfort to us here. Nothing to excite conversation, 

 except an occasional inroad of the dogs in search of food ; 

 this generally occurs at night. Whenever the deck-light 

 which burns under the housing happens to go out, they scale 

 the steep snow banking, and rush round the deck like 

 wolves. " Why, bless you, Sir, the wery moment that there 

 light goes out, and the quartermaster turns his back, they 

 makes a regular sorted, and in they all comes." "But where 

 do they come in, Harvey ? " " Where, Sir ? why every- 

 wheres ; they makes no more to do, but in they comes, clean 

 over all." Not long ago old Harvey was chief quarter- 

 master in a line-of-battle ship, where, during the long night- 

 watches, the younger midshipmen would gather round him 

 and eagerly listen while he spun them long tough yarns by 

 the hour about the arctic regions, — its bears, its icebergs, 

 and still more terrific " auroras, roaring and flashing about 

 the ship enough to frighten a fellow ! " 



30///.— Position, 74 41' N., 69 10' W. Severe cold has 

 arrived with the full moon ; eight days ago the thermometer 

 stood at the freezing-point, it is now 64 below it ! So dark 

 is it now that I was able to observe an eclipse of Jupiter's 

 first satellite before three o'clock to-day. For the last two 

 months we have drifted freely backwards and forwards 

 before N.W. and S.E. winds; each time we have gained a 

 more off-shore position, being gradually separated further 

 and further from the land by fresh growths of ice, which 

 invariably follow up every ice-movement. In this manner 

 we have been thrust out to the S.W. 80 miles from the 

 nearest land, and into that free space which in autumn 

 was open water, and which we then vainly struggled to 

 reach. 



That the ice has been most free to move in this direction 



