448 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



Dunbar. I have had a quantity of it put away in a 

 jar for carrying to the United States. Our liquid com- 

 passes seem very sensitive to cold weather. This morn- 

 ing the spirit was found oozing out around the edges of 

 the glass covers. I had the compasses removed from 

 the binnacles and stowed below. 



September 12th, Sunday. — One more week is added 

 to the long and weary round of weeks which records our 

 imprisonment and drift, and we seem as far from libera- 

 tion as ever. There is nothing I know of more wearing 

 than waiting, — waiting without a chance of relief visi- 

 ble. Are we to be blamed if we find a year of such a 

 life monotonous ? Or is it to be wondered at that we 

 do not welcome the beginning of a second year of the 

 same thing ? I say a second year, but not a last year ; 

 for as far as we can see ahead and judge of the future 

 by the past, there is no good reason for this condition 

 of things to change this side of eternity. We may pass 

 away and our ship may be among the things that were, 

 but I calmly believe this icy waste will go on surging 

 to and fro until the last trump blows. But it is a long 

 lane that has no turning, and our troubles may be ap- 

 proaching a relief. I hope they are, for I am becoming 

 weary of the load of cares and anxieties I have so long 

 carried about. 



At ten a. m. I inspected the ship, and after this read 

 divine service in the cabin, with Chipp, Melville, Dun- 

 bar, and the doctor as my congregation. Although 

 there is no fear of my taking up a collection, a larger 

 attendance is rare. 



September \Wi, Monday. — The new week seems to 

 promise but little. Observations to-day show a drift 

 since the 10th of six and eight tenths miles E. Consid- 

 ering the almost steady S. W. or N. W. winds which we 



