124 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. 



in expedients to soften them. Another objection 

 may, perhaps, be raised against the danger that is 

 likely to be incurred ; but this by caution and at- 

 tention may, generally, be provided against. A 

 third, and one of the first importance in most cases, 

 is the utter inutility of wintering in the Arctic seas ; 

 for no harbours are known that are not filled with 

 ice for eight or nine months in the year, and the 

 ship must be secured in ice that is already thick 

 and firm by the close of the season, generally 

 making it necessary to cut a canal, at an immense 

 labour, so as to be floated to a place of safety ; and 

 it is most likely to happen that, before she can be 

 got out again, the following season is so far expired, 

 that all the service she can then undertake is to get 

 home, with the loss of a year. 



After all, it is but a choice of evils, to winter or 

 return when the first obstruction commences. In 

 that portion of the globe in question a short passage 

 home is next to certain, whether beset in the ice, or 

 in an open sea, as the wind is generally favourable 

 for a southern voyage, and the current almost al- 

 ways so ; but it may happen that no choice is left, 

 and then to winter has become a matter of neces- 

 sity ; and Parry has laid down an admirable code 

 of instructions for any one reduced to that emer- 

 gency. 



