382 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. May 



during the remainder of the day. A thick mist or 

 sleet also prevailed that actually wetted us. Distance 

 made good one mile and-three-quarters. 



1 20th. — Temperature 20°, a thick foggy day 

 making it extremely difficult to keep to the road. 

 We must endeavour to adhere to it at all hazards. 



' The hummocks have been deprived of a great 

 deal of their niveous covering since we last passed 

 them, and have lost in a great measure their resem- 

 blance to the tops of wedding cakes, and are instead 

 fringed with long icicles, giving them a picturesque 

 and fairy-like appearance. Distance made good one 

 mile and-three-quarters. 



' 21st. — A foggy overcast day, and snow falling 

 more or less the whole time. So difficult was it to 

 adhere to the old track that on several occasions the 

 sledges had to be halted for a considerable time, 

 whilst the officers pushed on ahead to the opposite 

 end of the floe, and there branching off, one to the east- 

 ward, the other to the westward, discovered, by skirting 

 along the line of hummocks fringing the edge of the 

 floe, the old cutting through. This accomplished, they 

 would return to assist in dragging the sledges . up. 

 The continual strain to the eyes is also most trying. 

 All the party are more or less suffering from stiffness 

 and aching bones. Distance made good one mile and- 

 three-quarters. 



' 22nd. — After the tents were pitched last night 

 the temperature rose as high as 33°, and inside the 

 tent was as much as 61°. Another dull, overcast day. 

 Several times did we wander off the track, and then, 

 when found, were compelled to drag the sledges back 



