666 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



heat to those of uncomfortable cold, though probably 

 the temperature remained unchanged. 



July 24:th, Sunday. — At 12.20 a. m. we sat down to 

 dinner by the opened ice. Some little excitement was 

 created by the appearance of a seal, which Mr. Collins 

 killed ; but it sank before the dingy could reach it, and 

 thus our luxurious supper faded away. At 12.50 A. M. 

 turned to ; the ice had been alternately moving east 

 and west during dinner, but had now subsided, leaving 

 a lane fifty yards wide of clear water between us and a 

 neighboring hard floe. I at once decided this to be a 

 case for floating boats, and as soon as I had run a line 

 across in the dingy, and Mr. Dunbar had secured its 

 end, the boats were in turn drawn over. The first cut- 

 ter upon arrival was emptied, and used to ferry dogs, 

 dog sleds, and loose packages, and in one and a quarter 

 hours everything was across, then we proceeded for a 

 short distance three quarters of a mile, and were again 

 confronted by an ice freshet. Large blocks were be- 

 ing swirled around and carried first west and then east; 

 leads were opening and closing every moment ; water 

 lanes opened now, where a moment before a good road 

 appeared, and such a state of activity as we have not 

 before seen. Beyond this lay a stretch of good hard 

 ice, and better than that a lead of water on our course 

 west (magnetic), and fifty to one hundred feet wide, 

 while extending as far as the fog would permit us to 

 see, which, it is true, was not far. But the sliding, 

 shifting mess, before alluded to, bothered us exceed- 

 ingly ; though there were three dog-sled trips for each 

 sled, and four trips for the men, a new way had to be 

 found each time, going and returning, and it was not 

 until 6.40 A. M. we got all things over and camped. 

 Mr. Collins, however, at 6.30 shot a seal, and we know 



