132 FAVOURABLE POSITION OF THE SHIP. 



found that I was between two thick masses of 

 ice, with my face down, and that I hung only 

 by the right snow-shoe, which, fortunately for 

 me, had turned so as to fix itself across two 

 pieces strong enough to support me. From this 

 awkward situation I was eight or ten minutes in 

 extricating myself, and congratulated myself not 

 a little on my escape. The fact is, that I ought 

 not to have been alone ; but as I was at present 

 the only person who could boast of a pair of 

 snow-shoes, no one could keep pace with me. 

 Every thing which I saw between the ship and 

 the shore, the heavy floes in some parts, and 

 the extreme pressure that must have existed in 

 others, served to reconcile me to the position 

 in which accident, or something better, had 

 thrown the ship, as affording a more favourable 

 chance of getting away than if we had been 

 nearer to the land. 



October 24th, being the day of the full moon, 

 had been looked forward to with more than 

 ordinary interest, on account of the spring- 

 tide; though, from the cold we had experienced, 

 the snow which had fallen, and the uniform 

 compactness of the ice in every direction, it was 

 thought that it might now affect us but little, 

 if at all. The hour of change was ushered in by 

 a fresh westerly, or off-shore breeze, which 

 passed harmless over the surface of the vast 



12 



