INCONVENIENCE OF THE VAPOUR. 139 



our position much during the night, and yet in 

 the morning of the 29th it was evident that the 

 ice near the shore had by some means or other di- 

 minished in quantity, either by drifting away, or 

 from having been broken up by the tide. At 

 all events, the channel of water was certainly 

 nearer, and we ourselves closer to the land, 

 which remained shrouded in sombre clouds. 

 Much inconvenience was now experienced from 

 the great accumulation of moisture on the lower 

 deck. When the warming apparatus began to 

 throw out its heat this had partially disappeared ; 

 but that complex and most vexatious piece 

 of mechanism, after performing its office with 

 tolerable regularity for a few hours, again, with an 

 inexplicable caprice, confined its action to the 

 larboard side, and soon after, though there was 

 no visible defect, or any want of fire, grew 

 cold altogether, and consequently useless. To 

 remov 7 e the vapour for the present, two hang- 

 ing stoves were placed on the lower deck, which 

 answered the purpose, but half stifled with 

 their smoke those who were below. 



The wind which had set in in the morning 

 from the N. E. blew with increasing strength as 

 the day closed ; and when the moon shone out, 

 a dark lane of water was supposed to be descried 

 between our pack and the coast which we were 

 rapidly nearing. Here, as at the more westerly 



