HUGE MASS OF ICE. 155 



temperature was 11° + , So mild did the weather 

 continue, with every wind, for several consecutive 

 days, that the snow remained fleecy and soft, 

 and, obliterating every trace of the old tracks, 

 perplexed us considerably in our daily exercise. 

 Our floe had undergone a change of form from 

 the pressure on the extremities, and having been 

 forced against the compact and solid ice off 

 the western low point of Smyth's Harbour, 

 a large portion of it had broken and separated 

 from the main body. On examining it myself, 

 I saw that there were cracks in all directions, 

 and concluded that two more such encroach- 

 ments would infallibly extend to us : nor was 

 it possible to avoid the reflection that no art 

 could save us, if we were once exposed to the 

 grinding pressure of the mass against the 

 rocks. Communication with the shore was cut 

 off ; but having followed the channel some way 

 to seaward, it was found to be connected with 

 another open space of more than usual extent, 

 though now fast becoming coated with thin ice. 

 Nor was this distant from the ship ; and within 

 a few hundred paces was an accumulation of 

 ponderous masses of ice, the interstices between 

 which were filled up with snow drift, so firmly 

 cemented, and of such height, that it might 

 well have passed for a berg. From its summit 



