FAST IN THE ICE. 151 



October QtJi, 3Ionday. — The events of the clay can 

 be summed up in a few words. Mr. Newcomb shot 28 

 ducks, and the observatory was erected on the floe 

 about 100 yards from the ship, and lashed down to ice 

 anchors. The work of the deck-house is progressing. 



October 7th, Tuesday. — At times during the day a 

 great deal of land was in plain sight, the most promi- 

 nent bearing S. 54° W. (true). It appeared like a series 

 of high lands sloping to low points, or a chain of islands. 

 At intervals it would be greatly distorted by mirage, 

 and again it would stand out hard and plain. Clouds 

 could be seen above it and separated clearly from it. 

 Towards sunset, when we had a perfectly clear back- 

 ground, these lumps of land stood out sharply defined 

 against the sky, and were pronounced land unmistak- 

 ably by those on board as well as by Melville and my- 

 self, who were three miles from the ship, on our daily 

 run with a sledge and dog team. We may have some- 

 thing ahead of us in the way of exploration, this win- 

 ter, after all. 



Mr. Newcomb (who is indefatigable in his efforts to 

 make a good collection of objects of natural history) 

 added to his collection a '' Ross's Gull," a most valuable 

 prize and rare beyond calculation. In all Europe there 

 is but one (at the Museum in Mainz), and there is no 

 record of one in the United States. 



October 8th, Wednesday. — In order to give the 

 doctor more time to devote to preparing medicines for 

 sledge journeys, and upon his representing that he 

 thought he had more than his share of the meteoro- 

 logical work, and that he did not get sufficient sleep, I 

 modified my meteorological order of August 7th so as 

 to relieve the doctor of observing from eight p. m. to 

 midnight, and assigned the first half of that watch 



