466 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



two miles southwest of the ship, baiting it with a seal, 

 and we shall now stand by from day to day for a cap- 

 ture. 



October 2d, Saturday. — Mr. Dunbar, the natives, and 

 I visited the bear-trap to-day, but found everything un- 

 disturbed. The trap and its surroundings had the same 

 general dreariness, which is so painful on board and 

 around the ship. Such a waste as this ice-field is no- 

 where to be seen out of the Arctic. Not a sound breaks 

 the monotony. Not a bird is seen from morning till 

 night ; and but for our own voices to hear, and our 

 shipmates to see (and neither the one thing nor the 

 other is a novelty), we might easily imagine that the 

 world had come to a stand. I can easily believe that 

 this state of affairs always has been and always will be ; 

 and somehow or other it is not difficult to suppose that 

 I have never been anywhere else. The regularity with 

 which days come and go, the unchanged character of 

 our surroundings, the mechanical sameness with which 

 we live, eat, drink, and sleep, all go towards lulling the 

 mind when it tries to remember any other situation in 

 the past, or anticipate anything different in the future. 

 That there are others in the world living in bustle and 

 excitement we do not yet doubt, because a little over a 

 year ago we saw them ; but I am well satisfied that if 

 we held together for five years we should not believe 

 it. Whether this is a natural sequence of our utter 

 stagnation or not, I must leave to others to decide. 

 We are not lethargic to an irremediable extent, how- 

 ever, and if the ice were to open, we would jump quick 

 enough to get the ship under way. 



October 6th, Tuesday. — At six a. m. Chipp heard a 

 grinding of ice to the eastward, and I suppose we shall 

 have the satisfaction now of waiting for the repetition 



