102 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. 



the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snow-drift, 

 which often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, 

 added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which 

 day after day presented itself. To the southward was the 

 sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its 

 dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hum- 

 mocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general 

 level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being 

 almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a 

 brown patch of bare ground, in some exposed situations, 

 where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When 

 viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of 

 those calm and clear days which not unfrequently occurred 

 during the winter, the scene was such as to induce con- 

 templations which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of 

 any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen on which 

 the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed 

 to the spot where the ships lay, and where our little colony 

 was planted. The smoke which there issued from the 

 several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence 

 of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the pro- 

 spect; and the sound of voices, which, during the cold 

 weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than 

 usual, served now and then to break the silence which 

 reigned around us — a silence far different from that peace- 

 able composure which characterizes the landscape of a culti- 

 vated country ; it was the death-like stillness of the most 

 dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated exist- 

 ence. Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief 

 to the eye or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more 

 than usual size appearing above the snow, in the direction 

 to which w T e were going, immediately became a mark, on 

 which our eyes were unconsciously fixed, and towards which 

 we mechanically advanced. 



" Dreary as such a scene must necessarily be, it could 



