Sept. 1858. WINTER QUAETERS. 203 



he is to advance the depots along shore to the 

 south, and if successful will reach latitude 71°. 



The temperature is mild ( + 17), but it is snowy 

 and disagreeable weather ; there is already- 

 enough snow upon the old ice to make walking 

 laborious, and the land has also assumed its 

 wintry complexion. 



2'^th. — The ship was kept available for pro- 

 secuting her voyage up to the latest hour; it 

 was only yesterday that we left the western ice, 

 and in consequence of the vast accumulation of 

 young ice in Bellot Strait we had consider- 

 able difficulty in reaching the entrance of Port 

 Kennedy : all within was so firmly frozen over 

 that after three hours' steaming and working 

 we only penetrated 100 yards ; however, we are 

 in an excellent position, although our wintering 

 place will be farther out by a quarter of a mile 

 than I intended. 



To-day we are unbending sails and laying up 

 the engines — uncertainty no longer exists — here 

 we are compelled to remain ; and if we have 

 not been as successful in our voyaging as a 

 month ago we had good reason to expect, we 

 may still hope that Fortune will smile upon our 

 more humble, yet more arduous, pedestrian 

 explorations — " Hope on, hope ever." In the 

 mean time the sudden transition, from mental 



