CHAP. V.] RAPID THAW. 339 



hanging round the horizon. In the afternoon 

 the weather was much clearer though the sky 

 remained overcast, and there was certainly more 

 land free from snow than on the previous day : 

 the ice, too, surrounding the ship was hourly 

 becoming more honeycombed on the surface ; 

 fresh water found its way into the cracks ; several 

 pools gratified the sight ahead and astern as well as 

 in the cavities between the huge mounds ; and, 

 such was the softness of the under ice in some 

 few places, that both officers and men, while en- 

 deavouring to pass along, frequently sank above 

 the knee into water, until stopped by the sub- 

 stratum of ice. At 8 h p. m. some long lanes of 

 water towards the south-west and Digge's Islands 

 appeared, and the whole sky in those points 

 assumed a dark steely-blue hue, which, as it 

 prognosticated, brought about midnight abun- 

 dance of rain, the thermometer being then 

 at34° + . 



May 14th. The welcome rain did not abate, 

 and the surface of the pack, stripped of the 

 frozen snow, displayed a variety of tints, by 

 which the age of its component parts might 

 easily be detected ; among these, it was not the 

 least interesting to observe the dim and sombre 

 hue of irregular mounds, ridges, or peaks of 

 age-stricken ice, peering out conspicuously amidst 

 the more recent and brighter formations, like 



z 2 



