378 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



mometer begins at 19.3°, gets as high as 27-7°, and 

 closes at 22°, — rather low to be without fires, but we 

 do. not mind it, at least most of us do not, 



June 10th, Thursday. — A gloomy, disagreeable day ; 

 no observations possible ; in fine, nothing to do but re- 

 main shut up, thinking how lovely June is in these re- 

 gions, and how dull and dreary this confinement has 

 become. Over nine months held in bondage. Thus 

 far in the month our prospect is not very promising. 

 If we are to judge of the future by the past, very little 

 can be said that is favorable ; but fortunately experi- 

 ence of others in other Arctic wastes has demonstrated 

 how quickly changes take place, and how little can be 

 judged of the morrow by to-day. 



June 11th, Friday. — Another day of gloomy, un- 

 pleasant weather, a drift to N. N. E. being indicated 

 by the lead line. A drift this way is a welcome change 

 to our going backward. Thick fog or impenetrable 

 snow falls so soft that it melts on touching the floe, thus 

 depriving us of the satisfaction of getting drinking 

 water from it, whereby we might put our distiller out 

 of commission and save one hundred pounds of coal a 

 day. 



June 12th, Saturday. — These are, I think, our gloom- 

 iest days, not alone because of the unpleasant weather, 

 but because of the continued disappointment, hour after 

 hour, at a time when we have some reason to hope for 

 a release. Before many days the sun will have got his 

 furthest north, and will commence going south again, 

 and that in itself is not a comforting circumstance. 

 Though the ice is visibly wasting on the surface, and 

 is sloppy and in places ankle deep in water, there is 

 enough that is firm and solid below to hold us fast, 

 and prevent lanes or openings. This chasseeing around 



