474 TPIE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



the same vigor that we had a year ago. In anticipation 

 or contemplation of the winter before us, there is but 

 little that can be planned. So far as human agency is 

 concerned we have done all we can do, and must wait 

 and take things as they come. No human power can 

 keep the ice still, and no human ingenuity can prevent 

 damage when it begins to grind and break up. Held 

 fast in a vise we cannot get away, so we have to trust 

 in God and remain by the ship. If we are thrown out 

 on the ice we must try to get to Siberia, if we can 

 drag ourselves and food over the two hundred and fifty 

 miles intervening ; sleds are handy, dogs ready, pro- 

 visions on deck, knapsacks packed, arms at hand, rec- 

 ords encased. What more can we do? When trouble 

 comes we hope to be able to deal with it, and survive 

 it! If it comes too suddenly we shall be in a bad 

 plight, and cannot help it. From this time forward 

 care and anxiety will hang on me more heavily than 

 before. 



October 17th, Sunday. — The arrival and departure 

 of another Sunday marks the passage of one more week 

 of our imprisonment in the ice. Beyond a sharp crack 

 now and again, and the discovery of several new crev- 

 ices in the ice, we have nothing to give us uneasiness, 

 and we have a day for " calm repose and contempla- 

 tion." Inspection is made at ten a. m. as usual, and 

 divine service is performed at its completion, my small 

 congregation of four, Chipp, Melville, the doctor, and 

 Dunbar attending. 



The day is simply magnificent, and the night beau- 

 tiful beyond description. At midnight the scene is thus 

 described by me in the log, and it was one almost worth 

 the imprisonment accompanying it : — 



" At midnight one half of the sky was covered by cumulo- 



