SEVERITY OF WEATHER. 169 



On the 10th of October the weather was so 

 cold that the sea froze over, and they were 

 compelled to pass ranch of their time in the 

 house ; this was dreary enough, as they had 

 neither book, pen, nor paper, to divert their minds 

 from the miseries of their situation, and from 

 the prospect of a painful and lingering death, 

 which they had every reason to apprehend from 

 the fatality which attended other parties, who 

 had attempted to pass the winter upon this 

 island. From the 14th of October, to the 3rd 

 of February (O.S.) they did not see the sun, 

 and from the 1st to the 20th of December (O.S.) 

 there did not appear to be any daylight. The 

 new year set in so extremely cold, that if they 

 touched a piece of metal it would stick to their 

 fingers like birdlime ; if they exposed themselves 

 to the air large blisters were raised upon their 

 skin, and when, from necessity they went to 

 fetch snow or water, they returned sore, as if they 

 had been beaten with sticks. 



Until the 10th of January they found fresh 

 water under the ice, in a lake near the beach. 

 This water, it appears, flowed from a hole in a 

 cliff of ice and lodged in the lake, until the 

 intense frost consolidated it into ice. After this, 

 snow thawed with hot irons was used for drink- 

 ing. 



