THE WINTER NIGHT 405 



first time this year that we have been able to do 

 anything of the kind in the afternoon. We made at- 

 tempts to pump yesterday and to-day ; there ought to 

 be a Httle water, but the pump would not suck, though 

 we tried both warm water and salt. Possibly there is 

 water frozen round it, and possibly there is no water at 

 all. In the engine-room there has been no appearance 

 of water for more than a month, and none comes into 

 the forehold, especially now that the bow is raised up by 

 the pack-ice ; so if there is any it can only be a little 

 in the hold. This tightening may be attributed chiefiy 

 to the frost. 



" The wind has beo'un to blow aoain from the S.S.W. 

 this eveniuQ-, and the barometer is fallins:, which ous^ht 

 to mean good wind coming ; but the barometer of hope 

 does not rise above its normal height. I had a bath this 

 evening in a tin tub in the galley; trimmed and clean, 

 one feels more of a human being. 



"Thursday, March ist. We are lying almost still. 

 Beautiful mild weather, only 2.V' Fahr. below zero (—19° 

 C), sky overcast; light fall of snow, and light wind. We 

 made attempts to sound to-day, having lengthened our 

 hemp line with a single strand of steel. This broke off 

 with the lead. We put on a new lead and the whole line 

 ran out, about 2000 fathoms, without touching bottom, 

 so far as we could make out. In process of hauling in, 

 the steel line broke again. So the results are : no bot- 

 tom, and two sounding-leads, each of 100 pounds' weight, 



