140 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. September 





" open water " is extremely vague. It should only be 

 used to designate navigable water ; when water-pools 

 are spoken of, an estimate of their extent should be 

 given.' 



In order to register the temperature of the earth 

 throughout the winter, a thermometer was buried to 

 the depth of eighteen inches and then frozen in. This 

 was the extreme depth to which we were able to 

 sink a hole in the solidly frozen ground, after three 

 days' labour. On our arrival at Floeberg Beach we 

 found a steep bank of a previous season's snow resting 

 against the northern slope of our look-out hill, which 

 was 480 feet above high- water mark. Similar patches 

 were observed in other sheltered positions, showing that 

 the snow near the sea-level, as well as that on the hill 

 tops, did not melt entirely during the previous summer. 



The 12th brought in a calm day with a temperature 

 of from 4° to 8°. After divine service, when we took 

 the opportunity publicly to return thanks to God for 

 our preservation during our past dangers and labours, 

 I walked with some officers to Cape Eawson to see the 

 state of affairs there. The ice was piled up on the ice- 

 foot to a mean height of about thirty feet, with an 

 uneven pointed summit, quite useless as a road for dog 

 or man-sledge. Inside this icy ridge soft snow had col- 

 lected in undulating banks resting against the cliffs, but 

 with such steep sides as to necessitate a portage being 

 made before they could be passed by sledge-travellers. 



Wishing to obtain a view of the ice in the offing, 

 Eawson, Giffard, and I ascended half way up a steep 

 snow-slope in a gully on the east face of Cape Eaw- 

 son. Pressing upwards incautiously, it became less 



