286 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANXETTE. 



ature rises from minus 28° to minus 25° at one p. m.> 

 and falls to minus 36° by midnight. 



Land was sighted this afternoon bearing S. S. W. 

 (true). It was in the shape of two high mountains, or 

 peaks, with a saddle between them. Supposing the 

 positions in each case to be accurate, the land is the 

 volcano marked by Captain Long as being on Wrangel 

 Land, and distant from us one hundred and ten miles. 



The crew were engaged in digging away the ice un- 

 der the bows, in order to enable us to get at the stem, 

 and perhaps in time at the fore foot, w^hen we can ascer- 

 tain the extent of our injury. By digging down un- 

 til the ice becomes fairly thin between the dig;a;ers and 

 the water, and letting it freeze thicker below before 

 digging again, we may be able to reach to a good 

 depth. 



At six p. M. Alexey and Aneguin, who had been 

 away all day, came back with a bear skin as evidence 

 of having killed a bear. They came across her and her 

 cub about seven miles to the westward of the ship. 

 Ale5?ey's two dogs at once tackled to for fighting, and 

 before the bear was shot she managed with her paws to 

 give one of the dogs a bad wound in the foreleg, and 

 nearly to tear the toes off another. In the melee the 

 cub escaped. Knowing that it was too late to get the 

 carcass into the ship, the natives skinned it, and then 

 buried the body under ice and snow until to-morrow. 

 This makes a welcome addition to our food for the dogs, 

 and will enable us, I hope, to tide over the present cold 

 snap until mild weather sets in, opens the ice, and lets 

 us bag a few walruses and seals for them. The ice is 

 getting uneasy again, for at four a. m. sounds of move- 

 ment came from the S. E. and E., following some short, 

 slight shocks the ship had experienced at three. 



