OF THE POLAR SEA. 7 
cloudy in the afternoon, prevented our obtaining 
the corresponding observations to those gained 
in the morning ; and the next day an impervious 
fog obscured the sky until noon. On the even- 
ing of this day, we had the gratification of wel- 
coming our absent companion, Mr. Back, His 
return to our society was hailed with sincére 
pleasure by every one, and removed a weight of 
anxiety from my mind. It appears that he had 
come down to the beach at Caistor, just as the 
ships were passing by, and had applied to some 
boatmen to convey him on board, which might 
have been soon accomplished, but they, discover- 
ing the emergency of his case, demanded an ex- 
orbitant reward which he was not at the instant 
prepared to satisfy ; and, in consequence, they 
positively refused to assist him. Though he had 
travelled nine successive days, almost without 
rest, he could not be prevailed upon to withdraw 
from the agreeable scene of a ball-room, in which 
he joined us, until a late hour. ae 
On the 10th, the rain having ceased, the ob- 
servations for ascertaining the dip of the needle 
were repeated ; and the results, compared with 
the former ones, gave a mean of 74° 33’ 20”, 
Nearly the same differences were remarked in 
reversing the face of the instrument as before. 
An attempt was also made to ascertain the mag- 
