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AKCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



not been wind enough to fill the sails. Surely we are doomed to 

 winter here. Another year of disappointment is mine ; my mis- 

 sion to the North yet unaccomplished, I was rejoicing in my heart 

 that the time had nearly arrived when I should be on my way to 

 the States for the purpose of preparing again for the voyage to 

 King William's Land, when a thunderbolt descends from an icy 

 sky and rives my dearest plans ! But stop ! is not the hand of 

 God in this ? is all this luck ? The wisdom of Him who sees all, 

 and doth as He willeth, is above all the comprehension of mortals. 



u * * * * Monday, October 21st, 1861. The ice this morn- 

 ing I find by measurement to be four inches thick. During the 

 night it was nearly calm, and the thermometer ranged from 9° to 

 10°. Notwithstanding the dubious circumstances by which we 

 have been surrounded for the past few days, we have all had 

 more or less hope of still arriving at our homes this winter ; but, 

 dreaded as it is, we have to bring our hearts to submit to this dis- 

 pensation of Providence. The George Henry is fated to be ice- 

 bound here for full nine months to come. The 20th of October, 

 instead of finding us on our way as purposed, with hearts swell- 

 ing with joyous anticipations of a quick passage home and of 

 soon meeting with our loved ones, finds us engaged in planning 

 for subsistence during an imprisonment of nine months in these 

 frozen regions. What a change ! what disappointment ! and yet 

 who shall say it has not been wisely ordered. 1 Man proposes — 



Grod disposes ; cheerfully, then, we should submit to our lot. 

 * * * -x- * 



"Friday, October 25^,1861. This morning, to all appearance, 

 our winter's fate is sealed. The ice is now seven inches thick, 

 and is rapidly increasing. It is now twelve o'clock, noon, the sun 

 shining brightly, the wind blowing strong from the northwest, 

 and the thermometer only one degree above zero. 



"After breakfast Captain B sent out three Innuits to go to 



Budington Mountain and see the position of the pack. They re- 

 turned at half past four ; their report removes the hope of all those 

 who were still looking to get out of our imprisonment this season. 

 The Innuits state that seaward it is all ice ; the bay is all ice ex- 

 cept the small, opening to be seen from the ship's deck. The 

 lower and entrance part of the bay is filled with pack ; in Davis's 

 Strait nothing is to be seen but pack — ' all white, no black.' The 

 effect produced by this upon some of the George Henry's men was 

 very painful. 



