282 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



falls it is absorbed by the mixture of salt and ice that 

 rest on the surface of the floe, and is lost to us, that 

 is, we cannot hope for any of it to melt and use for 

 drinking water, to let up on our distilling. The high 

 temperature, minus 1° until noon, and even as high as 

 0.3° at two p. M., and the falling snow, make the floe ice 

 quite soft and soggy, and leave us with damp feet after 

 our hour's walking. This softness is only superficial, 

 however, for our men digging away under the stern 

 find the ice of the hardness of flint. I never dreamed 

 that ice could freeze so hard. But it is proof enough 

 to see pick-axes wielded by strong men breaking off 

 small pieces the size of one's hand, instead of good 

 sized lumps. The mass of ice seems absolutely without 

 pores (though, of course, since the atoms of salt caught 

 up in it cannot be destroyed or elhninated, they must 

 be held in minute cells), and clings to the ship's shape 

 as if it formed a part of her. Except by the pick-axe 

 chipping off and gouging and scoring the wood, the ice 

 cannot be removed next to the ship's skin. So much 

 of the stern post as has been uncovered seems to be 

 all right, and we can but hope that we will find it all 

 right in the future. 



The temperature having risen sufficiently to keep 

 our liquid compass unfrozen, the azimuth is taken out 

 to-day, and the ship's head is found to be south 39° 

 W. (magnetic). Chipp also determines our position by 

 meridian altitude of the sun and a time sight of the 

 moon to be lat. 72° 31' N., and long. 177° 58' W., al- 

 most exactly our position on December 2d, supposing 

 our chronometers have not altered their errors and 

 rates. The drift since the 6th inst., our preceding ob- 

 servation, is thirty-three miles N., 55° W., and as that 

 is a larger amount than we have had in a long time, I 



