364 RESULT OF LABOURS. [CHAP.VI. 



cheerful alacrity, and by the incessant use of 

 draining machines, in the shape of the engine, 

 boats' pumps, and buckets, we contrived to 

 penetrate as low as the seven feet mark; but the 

 sea water then beginning to ooze through the 

 under ice, rendered abortive any further attempt 

 to keep the space clear. This result, however, 

 had been gained. It was ascertained that the 

 doubling, and a portion of the stern-post below, 

 projected over to the larboard side several feet ; 

 and that another portion, from the ten feet six 

 mark to seven feet five, was incapable of repair. 

 It was, consequently cut away. The night 

 passed tranquilly, and a flock or two of geese 

 flew past towards the north. No change trans- 

 pired among the ice until early in the morning 

 of June 16th, the anniversary of our sailing from 

 the Nore, when it began to slacken round the 

 heavy ice which we were partly entrenched in 

 and partly upon. The weather, too, cleared, for 

 the wind came lightly from the south, and the 

 distinctness of the blue land (the snow being now 

 gone) of Charles Island, was a convincing proof 

 that we had been drifted a few miles in that 

 direction. Still there was not the faintest indi- 

 cation or promise of an open space ; for, let the 

 eye roam where it would, there was one wide glare 

 of dazzling white but too familiar to our senses. 

 It is not a little remarkable to reflect on the 



