134 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. September 



During the afternoon the wind was light from the 

 north-west, blowing along the land with a heavy snow- 

 fall. So far as we could see through the snow the 

 pack drifted towards the north-west with the ebb-tide, 

 and towards the south-east with the flood, opening 

 slightly off shore in our neighbourhood with the 

 former, but, as before, never leaving Cape Sheridan. 



The heavy fall of snow mixing with the salt in the 

 water considerably quickened the formation of the 

 young ice, and before the evening it was so thick we 

 were scarcely able to communicate with the shore by 

 boat. 



The temperature had fallen to ] 8°, our first experi- 

 ence of decidedly cold weather. 



While walking on shore my anxiety concerning 

 the security of the ship's position was somewhat re- 

 lieved by observing that although to the eastward and 

 westward numerous heaps of gravel had been forced 

 up above the high- water line by the ice-pressure, yet 

 in our immediate neighbourhood the beach was per- 

 fectly free from any such marks. 



The rise and fall of the tide was observed to be 

 very slight and denoted a great change in the configu- 

 ration of the shore line ; it proved unmistakably that 

 we had passed out of a narrow channel and had entered 

 the Polar Sea. 



For the three following days we experienced light 

 westerly winds, with the temperature ranging between 

 18° and 8°. The pack remained always close against 

 the coast, moving along the land with the tides, but 

 drifting on the whole towards the south-east. Pools 

 of water half a mile long by a quarter broad formed on 



