160 ACCIDENT TO THE CARPENTER. 



most excited my attention was the comparative 

 thinness of those portions of floe ice which had 

 been detached from what we considered as our 

 property ; for though upon a hasty glance it 

 looked thick and solid, yet a nearer inspection 

 convinced me that this appearance was owing 

 solely to a compact crust of snow, the ice itself 

 being certainly not more than sixteen inches 

 deep. Coupling so important a fact with the 

 numerous fractures for three hundred yards 

 from the extremity of the floe, there did not 

 seem much reason to apprehend a protracted 

 detention in what had hitherto proved a place of 

 refuge and security. A thick misty haze from 

 the water impeded the view towards Frozen 

 Strait, but up to the most distant point there 

 was a mixture of old and young bay ice, so 

 that in the event of a fresh easterly breeze, 

 there would be nothing to oppose our setting 

 again towards Cape Bylot. The cold was so 

 piercing that, although to prevent being frost- 

 bitten I walked fast enough to keep up a drip- 

 ping perspiration, yet on regaining the ship 

 one of my toes was rather sharply touched. 



December 4th. After divine service the 

 people went to walk, according to custom, and 

 being close to the young ice, one of them, a 

 carpenter, was thoughtless enough to step upon 

 it, and immediately sunk to his arms, which, 



