312 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



tom,^ a slight easterly drift being indicated by the lead 

 line. A seal has found our sounding place a conven- 

 ient breathing hole, and comes there so regularly that 

 no ice has been able to form over the centre of it since 

 noon yesterday, but from the centre outward there is 

 ice six inches in thickness in some places. Sunrise at 

 4.24, sunset at 7.40. Observed to-day for position, de- 

 termining it to be in latitude 72° 30' N., longitude 178° 

 33' W., showing a drift since the 1st of eleven and a half 

 miles to S. by W. Temperature begins at minus 21°, 

 falls to minus 23.5° by five a. m. This cold snap is very 

 unwelcome, because we have moved the Baxter from the 

 deck-house, and have long since discontinued the deck- 

 house stove, and that edifice is consequently as cold as 

 charity. Lookhig forward to the future with the ex- 

 perience of the past, T think it is likely that this cold 

 will continue until the. new moon on the 9th, after 

 which I hope we shall have quite a moderate spell. 



Mr. Dunbar in his wanderings to-day visited the ap- 

 parently grounded ice again, and saw quite a lane of 

 open water, but nothing to shoot at. From our topsail 

 yard a narrow ribbon of water can be seen running 

 from S. W. around by W. to N. E., and averaging seven 

 miles in distance from us. 



Aj^ril Qth, Tuesday. — For several evenings past, at 

 eleven p. m., I have noticed a long, low streak in the. 

 N. W. that very much resembles land. It cannot be 

 seen on our brightest days, because the sun shines 

 against it and hides it in the glare of the ice. But 

 when the sun gets below the horizon and behind it, it 

 comes out with distinctness enough to at least raise 

 the suspicion that it is land. Of course it may be a 

 stratus cloud, but it is somewhat singular that the same 

 shaped cloud should be in the same place every night. 



