554 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



May 2Sth, Saturday. — Soundings forty fathoms, and 

 the state of the temperature is by no means pleasant, 

 maximum 19°, minimum 15°. Our invalids give me 

 the usual anxiety. Chipp is very weak, and I fear it 

 will take a long time to build him up. Danenhower, 

 of course, will be of no use so long as he is in the 

 ship. Alexey slowly recovers. Lauterbach is improv- 

 ing, his back slowly recovering from the strain. But 

 with many things crowding in on me I almost feel that 

 the crucial moment in our voyage is at hand. 



May 29th, Sunday. — We get considerable work out 

 of the windmill to-day, and our men are consequently 

 relieved from the endless clang -clang of the hand- 

 pump. Our dull and gloomy weather continues, to my 

 disappointment, for I can get no observations for posi- 

 tion. These are particularly desirable now, because I 

 want to fix the position of Henrietta Island. It is very 

 difficult to get good bearings from deck of anything, 

 because the ice-hummocks and ridges are so high and 

 so continuous that it is only here and there that we can 

 see even the plainest land ; and then it looks so much 

 like the black spots in the ice, that when .one puts his 

 eye down to the sight-vane of the compass, he is as 

 apt to take the bearing of a black spot as of the land. 

 Besides, we cannot see extreme points from the land. 

 Angling with a sextant from aloft is cold w r ork, and 

 some points show too faintly to get a reflection, so that 

 though I have measured angles several times, I have 

 only recorded them when I have been sure of them. 



We were startled this afternoon by an enormous flock 

 of ducks, estimated to be five hundred in number — 

 more than any one had ever seen before — flying quite 

 low, and heading to the northward, where I suppose 

 there must be more land. Our dogs took after them in 

 a body, until stopped by water, and turned back. 



