s 
, FAST. 91 
half of yesterday, we are nearly where we started from. 
The prevalent winds have heen from the southward. 
Is it to them that we owe our exemption from the 
southeasterly drift, which otherwise we had heen 
taught to expect ? 
" The drift of the surface acalephsB, as seen in the- 
leads, is to the northward. 
" Day delightful, crew playing foot-hall and running 
races on the ice, 
'•''July 14-15. The American expedition advances 
half a ship's length. 
"July 16. How very strange! can it he midsum- 
mer ? The ice through which we yesterday attempt- 
ed to work our way was from two to four feet thick, 
and, as the broken fragments closed around the ves- 
sels, they froze into a solid mass. For sixteen hours 
the thermometer stood below the freezing point, and 
the mean temperature of the entire day was hut 34° 4'. 
" The sun shines always, and, except when in his 
low curve, about the northern meridian, his glare is 
so bright that we go about in owl-like goggles, that 
buckle over the nose. Yet, with all this light, we are 
fortunate if our noonday thermometers give us 40°. 
" On the 18th two vessels were entered in the log- 
book as seen to the southward and eastward, on the 
margin of the pack. On the 15th they were observed 
to have changed their bearings, thus proving that it 
was not a freak of refraction. On the 16th five were 
reported ; as nearly as we could make out, one ship, 
a brig, and three barques. They proved to be whal- 
ers, returning from their unsuccessful attempt to pen- 
etrate Melville Bay to the North Water. 
"July 17. New ice forming constantly in the little 
pool which holds our vessels. This morning it was 
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