Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 291 



which was occasionally deranged by circumstances, con- 

 sisted, first, in our avoiding the intense and oppressive glare 

 from the snow during the time of the sun's greatest altitude, 

 so as to prevent, in some degree, the painful inflammation 

 in the eyes, called 'snow-blindness,' which is common in 

 all snowy countries. We also thus enjoyed greater warmth 

 during the hours of rest, and had a better chance of drying 

 our clothes ; besides which, no small advantage was derived 

 from the snow being harder at night for travelling. The 

 only disadvantage of this plan was, that the fogs were some- 

 what more frequent and more thick by night than by day, 

 though even in this respect there was less difference than 

 might have been supposed, the temperature during the 

 twenty-four hours undergoing but little variation. This 

 travelling by night and sleeping by day so completely in- 

 verted the natural order of things, that it was difficult to 

 persuade ourselves of the reality. Even the officers and 

 myself, who were all furnished with pocket chronometers, 

 could not always bear in mind at what part of the twenty- 

 four hours we had arrived ; and there were several of the 

 men who declared, and I believe truly, that they never 

 knew night from day during the whole excursion.* 



" When we rose in the evening, we commenced our day 

 by prayers, after which we took off our fur sleeping-dresses, 

 and put on those for travelling ; the former being made of 



* " Had we succeeded in reaching the higher latitudes, where 

 the change of the sun's altitude during the twenty-four hours is 

 still less perceptible, it would have been essentially necessary to 

 possess the certain means of knowing this ; since an error of 

 twelve hours of time would have carried us, when we intended 

 to return, on a meridian opposite to, or 180° from, the right one. 

 To obviate the possibility of this, we had some chronometers 

 constructed by Messrs. Parkinson and Frodsham, of which the 

 hour-hand made only one revolution in the day, the twenty-four 

 hours being marked round the dial-plate." 



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