OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



139 



The thermometer rising to — 5° in the course of the 17th, the weather an- * 821 ; 



, Decemb. 



peared warm to our feelings. It proved favourable also for another play v^-w 



jVIon 17 



which had been fixed for this night, and the " Poor Gentleman" was per- A 

 formed by the officers in so admirable and feeling a manner as to excite un- 

 common interest among the men, and to convince me more than ever of the 

 utility of our theatrical amusements. The 18th was a remarkably clear day Tues. 18. 

 without any of that cloudiness which usually hung about the southern hori- 

 zon. The sun was therefore clearly visible at noon, when such was its oval 

 shape that its horizontal diameter exceeded the vertical by 4'. 07". We had 

 light in the cabin for reading and writing for three hours and a quarter with- 

 out candles, and about five hours for convenient walking. 



We had about this time occasion to notice, that ever since our arrival in 

 the bay, a gradual, though slow, alteration had been taking place in the size 

 of the numerous grounded masses of ice in-shore, occasioned by every tide 

 leaving a thin additional coat all round the surface of each ; so that by this 

 time, only a narrow passage could be found between some of them, Avhere 

 at first there had been a large space. In the course of the winter, also, a 

 number of them were split and upset by the great rise of tide, which, to- 

 gether with the cracking of the floe, and the occasional overflowing of the 

 water upon it near the beach, made the landing extremely bad. This in- 

 convenience was particularly felt by Mr. Fisher, whose various avocations 

 led him most on shore during the hours of darkness. 



On the 21st, it blew strong from the N.W., with clear weather overhead, Frid. 21. 

 and some snow-drift below. We remarked, however, that the snow was still 

 much less minute than at Melville Island, and therefore less easily raised by 

 the wind into drift. The peculiarity before remarked of its adhering to the 

 masts and rigging still continued also. I had three hours' daylight for 

 writing in the cabin this day, the light being admitted only by the sky-light, 

 and the weather unfavourable on account of the snow-drift. 



The shortest day had now passed, and all that could be remarked upon it 

 was, that nobody seemed to consider it a matter of much interest one way or 

 the other. On the former occasion, when novelty combined with the peculia- 

 rity of our situation to give it more importance, it seemed to constitute a sort 

 of era in our winter's calendar and excited a more than ordinary sensation in 

 our minds. The case was now very different ; our wintering was no longer 

 an experiment, our comforts were greatly increased, and the prospect of an 

 early release from the ice as favourable as could be desired. Under these 



T 2 



