154 THERMOMETER RISES. 



vidence watched over us and preserved us in the 

 midst of such fearful perils. On the 21st Novem- 

 ber we moved but little, though close in with the 

 point of Cape Comfort, and therefore exposed to 

 the influence of those alternate tides which 

 worked so much confusion amongst the bay ice. 

 The wind however began to blow fresh and 

 steadily from the south-east, with the same degree 

 of force which had hitherto characterized it on 

 the days of full and change. In consequence 

 of this change the thermometer showed a dis- 

 position to rise, and on the 22d was 9° + , the 

 weather being overcast, and the ship farther off 

 shore. Still, notwithstanding the continuance 

 and strength of the wind, we did not increase our 

 distance from the land so much as might have 

 been expected, a circumstance which can only be 

 accounted for by supposing that its influence was 

 partial, or that ice had accumulated in the north 

 so as to prevent any egress in that direction. 

 Whatever it was, we certainly had not been drifted 

 more than five miles ; and after the period of full 

 moon, an opposite breeze sent us again in shore, 

 altogether to the westward of the Cape. 



On making holes at two places, a quarter of 

 a mile apart, the thickness of the ice beneath the 

 covering of snow, w r as found to be not more than 

 two and two and a half feet. Much snow now 

 fell, and even with a fresh northerly wind, the 



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