CHAP.TV.] ANXIETIES. 179 



however, was now centred in the floe, which 

 to our regret we beheld still further contracted 

 by several other lanes of water, or rather young 

 ice, within a short distance from the ship ; 

 while towards the horizon, and again in shore, 

 the body seemed to be more compact, although, 

 the whole of yesterday, a long line of dark 

 vapour was observed rising from that place. 

 Thus, the same substance that had remained 

 firm and unbroken throughout the raging of 

 the storm was in a few hours of calm all 

 shattered and disjointed ; and the sense of secu- 

 rity which a day or two ago had cheered us in 

 the midst of our discomforts, was suddenly, and 

 at a time when it was least expected, converted 

 into distrust and apprehension. Such are the 

 strange caprices of Polar navigation, and such 

 the revolutions of feeling to which the adventurer 

 is continually subject! Happy is the tempera- 

 ment which can preserve its equal balance be- 

 tween the extremes of hope and despondency. 



The barometer had reached the unusual 

 height of 30 in . 84-. ; and what is equally sin- 

 gular, the thermometer rose from 34° — to 13° — , 

 under the influence of a very clear blue sky and 

 calms, a fact utterly at variance with all my 

 former experience. The sun rose above the moun- 

 tains to the southward at 10 h I5 m a. m. The 

 extremes of land at noon bore from S. S. E. ± E« 



N 2 



