THE DEAD OF WINTER. 209 



are reduced to a temperature of 32° Fahrenheit. The 

 thermometer remained uniformly very low, the highest 

 being minus 37°, and the lowest 39.5°. 



There is, no doubt, a heavy blow going on to the 

 southward of us. For us the accompaniments of this 

 high barometer and low temperature were a westerly 

 wind veering, going to N. and ending in perfect 

 calm, and almost entirely cloudless sky (a few light 

 streaks to southern horizon being the only clouds), and 

 no unusual electric disturbance. In fact, the auroral 

 displays were quite ordinary. A lunar halo was also 

 observed at three A. m., but it had no especial features. 

 At daylight numerous water clouds were observed 

 around ns, but they disappeared during the forenoon 

 as the ice closed. At ten p. m. the ice commenced 

 grinding near us in the S. W., the motion, judging 

 by the sound, being transmitted along a line running to 

 the northward. What I mean by that is, that when the 

 ice moved first it was in the S. W. ; then the next 

 sound was from S. W. by W., while in the S. W. it was 

 quiet ; so on to W. and along, the sound retreating to 

 the northward. No motion was communicated to the 

 ship or to the ice surrounding her. The noise was ex- 

 actly like the paddle-wheels of a steamer beating the 

 water, sometimes at full speed, and sometimes at half 

 speed — even as it may be heard on a still night on 

 the North River at home. 



Every once in a while during this cold snap, we are 

 startled by a loud crack like a rifle shot, caused by the 

 drawing of some fastening. That we have not had 

 more of them may be due to the extra secure manner 

 in which our ship is built ; for Mr. Dunbar seems to 

 have experienced much more of this kind of noise in 

 wintering in a whaler in Cumberland Sound. 



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