THE STRAIT. 43 



clear sea. A thick fog distressed us all day, 1824. 

 but in the evening the sky broke, and the wea- August. 

 ther calmed. The temperature since morning 

 had been as low as 30° in the shade, the sea 

 being 32°, and the fog froze thickly in the 

 rigging. Although the fogs in the Polar re- 

 gions are so frequently mentioned in the course 

 of the recent narratives which have been pub- 

 lished, I believe they are generally understood 

 as resembling our English fogs, which is not, 

 in fact, the case. In the northern seas these 

 vapours rarely rise to above a hundred feet 

 from the sea, and a sky of most provok- 

 ing brilliancy is frequently seen over head. 

 The view from the deck is bounded to about 

 a hundred yards, and such is the rapid forma- 

 tion of the icicles on the rigging, that it is ac- 

 tually possible, when the temperature is low, 

 to see them grow beneath the eye. Yet chill- 

 ing as this may appear, the sudden clearing of 

 the fog no sooner permits the sun to break 

 forth in its full vigour, than the ship and rig- 

 ging glisten in the most brilliant manner, as if 

 they were of glass, and a rapid thaw quickly 

 restores every thing to its original colour. 



At night-fall a light breeze sprung up from 

 the southward, and for the first time in many 

 days the ship lay her course unimpeded by ice. 

 By ten, however, we again came to a close 



