a2 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
spliced*, and a signal was made to the Griper to do ~ 
the same; and to finish the festivity of the day, they 
enjoyed themselves in the evening with the healthy 
and mirthful amusement of dancing, the weather 
being at the time both mild and calm, tended very 
materially to the comfort and conviviality of all 
engaged. 
We tried in the afternoon for soundings, with a 
line of two hundred and fifty fathoms : (no bottom.) 
At this depth we found, contrary to what has been 
usually observed, that the temperature of the water 
was greater than at the surface by a quarter of a de- 
gree, the latter being 443°, and the former, by the 
self-registering thermometer, 443°, the temperature 
of the air at the time being 43°. This leads me to 
mention a singular, and to me rather an unaccount- 
able difference in this respect, that occurred to the 
two expeditions employed last year in the Arctic re- 
gions, which is, that we found the temperature of the 
sea at every depth, and on every occasion where it 
was tried, to be less than that of the surface at the 
time; and the expedition to Spitzbergen found it 
always the reverse; that is to say, the temperature 
at the surface always less than at the bottom, or at 
any considerable depth where it was tried. 
Can this difference be owing to the greater thick- 
ness of the ice at Spitzbergen, which throughout 
the-whole summer prevents the solar rays from warm- 
ing more than a very small portion of the surface of 
the sea ; whilst, on the contrary, the greatest extent of 
* This nautical phrase signifies any extra allowance of spirits 
that is given to seamen, in consideration of arduous duties that 
they have occasionally to perform during bad weather, &c. 
