136 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
they have now become so expert, by these two or 
three days’ experience, that notwithstanding the 
increased thickness of the ice, they have cut 
through more * of it to-day than either of the pre- 
ceding days, and that too in less time. For at a 
quarter past three o’clock in the afternoon, the ships 
‘were warped to the top of the canal, when the men, 
in the usual way in which British seamen express 
their joy, gave three hearty cheers, as a proof of the 
pleasure they felt at having in safety reached their 
winter-quarters, after performing, on every occasion, 
all that was possible for men to do; and, what is 
more, after having accomplished infinitely more than 
any of the multitude of adventurous seamen who 
have been employed (at different times for upwards 
of two centuries past), in search of the same object. 
In concluding my account of the operations of this 
season, it is certainly a tribute due to every officer 
and man on the Expedition, to say, that they always 
evinced the utmost zeal for the service on which 
we are’ employed; and I do not think it can be 
considered that we hold what we have done in too 
high an estimation, if we say that our zeal and per- 
severance have been rewarded with ample success ; 
nor can it be said that our hopes are too sanguine, if 
* After they had done cutting the canal to-day, its length was 
measured, when it was found that they had cut the 
Ist day 1200 yards, 
9d — 1984: - do. 
3d — 1598 do. 
Total 4082 do. 
making the whole length of the canal equal to 2! miles nearly. 
