CHAP. V.] CAULKING. 301 



ingly, the carpenters were set to work in 

 board, and some slight leaks on the quarter were 

 stopped. The largest unbroken remnant of 

 our former floe, which lay between us and the 

 shore on the starboard side, as yet had borne 

 every encounter ; but at 4 h p. m. to-day, with- 

 out visible cause adequate to such an effect, it 

 split in two, and the parts opened out about 

 eighteen inches. The crack ran close to the 

 cutter, which, together with the stores, was 

 quickly removed nearer the ship. 



On the following day, 4th April, the medi- 

 cal officer following up the system acted on 

 throughout the past winter, carefully inspected 

 the whole crew ; and with the exception of two 

 men, before spoken of as still labouring under 

 scorbutic symptoms, they were reported free from 

 positive illness and rapidly improving in appear- 

 ance. In fact, the mild weather, though still gen- 

 erally below the freezing point, had produced a 

 visible alteration for the better in all of us, This 

 was the night of the new moon ; and, rendered wary 

 from the past, we could not entirely divest our- 

 selves of every anxiety, though there was nothing 

 immediately prognosticating further change. 

 However, on the next day, April 5th, all was tran- 

 quil, and from daylight to 8 h a. m. the ship was 

 carried something more to the east than before, 

 but the ice obeying the returning tide soon 



