WANT OF FUEL PREVENTS EXCURSIONS. 137 



the motion of the ice, though I did not despair of 

 yet doing something in that respect during the 

 winter. At noon the weather was very gloomy, 

 with smoke-black clouds hanging over the water, 

 and seeming more heavy from mingling with a 

 greenish pale yellow which canopied the snow- 

 clad hills beyond. The wind was from the south- 

 ward and the thermometer showed 28°-f . The 

 next day the water remained still open, and in 

 the opinion of the ice-mate had greatly increased 

 towards the upper end or western extreme of 

 Frozen Strait. From alongside the ship how- 

 ever, to the nearest edge of the pack connected 

 with the water, the distance was at least a mile, 

 the whole of which was a succession of hum- 

 mocks, wedged and cemented by sludge and 

 snow into a mass so firm, as to defy any human 

 efforts to separate them. Yet so tempting was 

 that channel, so doubtful its re-occurrence when 

 we might be at liberty to avail ourselves of it, 

 that had there been wood, or the means of pro- 

 curing fuel around Repulse Bay, I could hardly 

 have resisted an attempt with the boats, whereby 

 half the object might have been accomplished by 

 the time the ship could have forced her way to 

 an anchorage. But without fire, the thing was 

 utterly impracticable, so I was compelled unwil- 

 lingly to submit. 



The warming apparatus, of the repair of which I 



