398 PROSPECTS CONSIDERED. [CHAP.VL 



employed in throwing off the surface of two of 

 the three or four solid hummocks which yet 

 remained alongside, while others of the same party 

 cut a trench at right angles to the ship's beam, 

 preparatory to using the saw. At noon there were 

 some narwhales near, and flocks of loons flew past; 

 but there were few or no gulls. Owing to the 

 haziness of the weather no land was in sight. 



As I now hoped that a few days at most would 

 yield the Terror to my own control, it became 

 necessary for me to decide as to the possibility of 

 accomplishing the original purpose of the expe- 

 dition ; and, although the altered state of the 

 health of almost all on board made the prospect 

 less favourable than it had been ten months 

 ao*o, yet I had not, until recently, entertained a 

 doubt of executing in part, if not entirely, the 

 mission on which I had been despatched. It 

 cannot, however, be denied that the loss of three 

 valuable men, the entire disability of four or 

 five others, the symptoms of disease lingering 

 in many more — to say nothing of some of the 

 officers who were visibly effected — had, together 

 with Dr. Donovan's letter on the subject, already 

 oiven me great uneasiness ; and now that the 

 known damage of the ship proved to be far beyond 

 what I had anticipated, or rather had hoped 

 against hope •> this, with her leakage, and other 

 injuries, apprehended though not known, forced 

 me to contemplate the possibility of a different 



