358 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. A toil 



Many frost-bites about the face. John Shirley com 

 plaining of pain in his ankle and knee was duly treated. 

 Distance marched eight miles ; made good one and 

 three quarters. 



« lhth. — Blowing a north-westerly gale, with the 

 temperature 35° below zero, and a considerable drift 

 which rendered travelling quite out of the question. 

 Extreme wretchedness and almost abject misery was 

 our lot to-day. We derived no heat from our robes, 

 they were frozen so hard, the temperature inside our 

 tent being minus 22°. It is rather remarkable that 

 we have this day experienced, during a gale of wind, 

 a lower temperature than we have had during any gale 

 the whole winter, which leads one to the conclusion 

 that it is evident there can be no open water exis ting- 

 either to the northward or westward of us. 



< 16th. — The wind this morning was still blowing 

 fresh, though it had moderated considerably ; it was, 

 however, so cutting and piercing, and the drift was so 

 dense, making it almost impossible for us to see our 

 way through the hummocks, that it was deemed more 

 prudent and advisable to remain encamped, however 

 unpleasant and disagreeable such a course was to all 

 concerned. We unanimously came to the conclu- 

 sion that it was the most wretched and miserable 

 Easter Sunday that any one of us had ever passed. 

 Forty- eight hours in a bag, in a gale of wind off Cape 

 Joseph Henry, with a temperature 67° below freezing 

 point, is not a delightful way of passing the time — 

 sleep was almost out of the question. In spite of the 

 cold we did not omit the usual Saturday night's toast 

 last evening ; and as it was also the first anniversary of 



