1876 CONTRACTION OF ICE. 201 



sealskin jackets off, cutting out the chain cables from 

 the ice in which they became buried by the sludge and 

 snow freezing over them in September. 



' As the ice is constantly cracking with the tidal 

 motion and contracting from the cold, I am afraid that 

 the links of the chain, solidly embedded as they are in 

 the ice, will be unable to stand the great strain to 

 which they must be subjected at the parts where the 

 cable crosses the cracks. 



* At the monthly medical inspection to-day Dr. Colan 

 reports that everyone is in perfect health with the ex- 

 ception of the wardroom steward, who is very ill. 



6 Many of the officers are experiencing a loss of appe- 

 tite ; a few of the men are also similarly affected, but 

 as they have more regular outdoor bodily labour to 

 undergo, they are not so liable to feel the change as 

 the officers. With the increasing darkness we become 

 more dependent on each other for companionship, and 

 it requires more than the usual determination to take 

 a solitary constitutional walk. The snow embankment 

 round the ship is at last nearly completed, but owing 

 to her bow being so high out of the water the weight 

 is too heavy for the ice, which has settled down so 

 much that the water has overflowed the fire-hole and 

 requires to be dammed off to prevent it flooding the 

 surface of the ice. 



' 2nd. — A misty day, light northerly airs with a 

 temperature minus 8°. The moon being absent we can 

 scarcely see our way along the Ladies' Mile, the marks 

 thirty feet apart being barely visible from one to the 

 other. Except by moonlight, it has long since been 

 quite impossible to identify anyone, or to distinguish 



