618 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



gear, and turned out wet to the knees. I managed to 

 get my feet doubled up to a dry place, and slept with 

 tolerable comfort for some hours, until my bones com- 

 menced to ache with the infernal hardness of the ice on 

 which we were lying. Snow would be softer, of course, 

 but the heat from our bodies would soon melt it, and 

 we should be lying in a pool of water before long. 

 There is so much snow-water all over the ice that we 

 cannot find a place dry enough to make our rubber 

 blanket a sufficient protection. At eight p. m. a few 

 rain-drops were falling, and the sky promised copious 

 showers. A light N. W. breeze was blowing, and, though 

 there was no fog to speak of, it was difficult to see any 

 distance. Not carina; to run the risk of drenching; 

 everbody, I delayed marching until nine p. m., when 

 the temperature being 30.5° I concluded we should 

 have no rain, and gave the order to start. A fair road 

 enabled us to move everything one half mile southwest 

 by 12.30 a. m. 



July 2d, Saturday. — When we halted for dinner I 

 had gone ahead with Mr. Dunbar to select and make a 

 road, but a thick fog shut in everything a few yards 

 distant. By much groping we found a very rough and 

 circuitous way to some smooth ice (i. e. ice with two feet 

 of slush and water over it, and holes where you would 

 suddenly sink to your knees), and got back in time to 

 eat dinner. This dinner time is our most uncomforta- 

 ble part of the twenty-four hours. Our feet and legs 

 are wet in the first half hour of our marching, but as 

 long as we move ahead we do not mind it ; but when 

 we halt for dinner our feet become cold, and generally 

 remain so until we camp at night and change our foot 

 gear. 



At 1.30 a. m. turned to, and sent one hand from each 



