252 LANES OF WATER. [CHAP.V. 



From 10 h p. m. there was no peace, but on the 

 contrary, harsh rubbing, smart explosions, and 

 other varieties of discordant sounds, quite suf- 

 ficient to keep the mind on the alert. As day- 

 light gleamed, several narrow lanes of water 

 were perceived running from the quarter, in- 

 shore, directly ahead of the ship, and precisely 

 in the same crack, which we hoped to have got 

 through last year, when the ship's head was the 

 other way. Under any circumstances they were 

 not wide enough to afford us a passage ; and a few 

 minutes w T ere sufficient to coat them with young 

 ice, which of itself barred all progress. So long, 

 however, as they remained open, they aided the 

 work of destruction, by allowing space for the 

 large bodies to grind against each other ; but the 

 ship was what is termed free in her dock ; that 

 is to say, she was from two to three feet away 

 from the walled sides of ice and snow which 

 usually hemmed her in, the clear interval below 

 being frozen hard with young ice. Whether 

 from the current of air thereby permitted to 

 circulate round the bends, or from the removal 

 of the snow covering and embankment, or both, 

 the water in the pump-well was found for the 

 first time frozen. Its temperature was 30° -j-, 

 and that of the lower deck 58° + . The land 

 was clearly seen from the deck, running out 

 to a point in the extreme distance, bearing 



