214< HEAVY GALE. [CHAP.IV. 



were, therefore, restored to their places, and the 

 upper parts covered with their sails as before. 

 The northerly wind continued to blow fresh 

 during the night, and in the morning of the 

 10th a lane of water was discovered at the edge 

 of the floe astern, extending from thence to due 

 south near the shore. In this opening a few 

 seals were seen. In the forenoon two ravens 

 were observed flying northward. At noon it 

 blew a fresh gale, and the streams of snow-drift 

 effectually shut out the land. As the gale 

 increased during the day, it was conjectured 

 we were setting to the southward, and through- 

 out the night, and up to noon of February 11th, 

 it blew hard. The barometer in the meantime 

 had risen in the last twenty-four hours, from 

 29. 59 to 29. 70, while the thermometer on the 

 ice had fallen from 18°— to 37° — ; and, such was 

 the keenness of the cold occasioned by the wind 

 and drift, that it was at some hazard the officer 

 of the watch could venture even to the regis- 

 tering station, though less than a hundred yards 

 from the ship. Eddies and clouds of drift 

 whirled incessantly round us, and caused the 

 wood and spars to crack and split, so that on 

 one occasion I thought we had got into shoal 

 water, and the ship was touching. Neither 

 could the people take their accustomed exercise 



