PARTIAL MOVEMENT OF THE MASSES. 99 



As the sun set the sky became rather more 

 bright at N. W«, and with much satisfaction the 

 wind was observed to veer that way. A faint 

 aurora was also seen at S. W., and as it has been 

 often considered as a sign of wind from that quar- 

 ter in which it appears, even that prognostic, 

 uncertain as it is, was eagerly caught at. But 

 although the breeze blew off or along the coast all 

 the night, yet on Sept. 15th not the minutest 

 change was visible, until near 8 h a. m., when a 

 very partial movement took place in about a 

 dozen large masses immediately around us. The 

 effect of this was so far beneficial that it 

 released the ship from the heavy pressure she 

 had been sustaining, and as the sunken pieces, 

 from beneath her bottom, rose to the surface 

 with a bound, and others glided along the sides, 

 she gradually righted. But when we were looking 

 with eager eyes for some little space of water, the 

 motion stopped at once, as if arrested by the hand 

 of magic, and left us again to hope and again be 

 disappointed. The temperature which had been 

 as low as 21° + , at noon rose to 23° + . The wind 

 blew fresh along the land until evening, but it 

 was late in the first watch before the faintest 

 stir was heard among the ice, which then merely 

 moved in azimuth, causing the ship to go a few 

 yards astern. Yet to move at all was encouraging, 

 since it proved that the pieces, though wedged 



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