DRIFT NORTHWARD. 195 
'■^September 20.1 have been keeping the first watch, 
and anxiously observing the ice ; for I am no sailor, 
and in emergency can only wake my comrades. The 
darkness is now complete. The wind has changed 
again. At three A.M. it set in from the southward 
and eastward, increasing gradually to a fresh gale. 
Perhaps it may be the breaking up of the season, or 
some unusual premonition of stern winter; but cer- 
tain it is that our experience of Lancaster Sound hag 
given us any thing but tranquillity of winds. We en- 
tered on the wings of a storm ; and ever since, with 
the exception of about three days off Cape Riley, we 
have had nothing but gales, rising and falling in al- 
ternating series from the north to northward and west- 
ward, and from the south to southward and eastward. 
The day was as usual ushered in with snow, and the 
thermometer rose to the height of 29° ; yet to sensa- 
tion it was cold. There is something very queer about 
this discrepancy between the thermometrical register 
and the effects of heat. It thawed palpably to-day at 
28°; and yet all complain of cold, even without the 
influence of the wind. 
" We are now, poor devils ! drifting northward again. 
Creatures of habit, those who were anxious have for- 
gotten anxiety : glued fast here in a moving mass, we 
eat, and drink, and sleep, unmindful of the morrow. 
It is almost beyond a doubt that, if we find our way 
through the contingencies of this Arctic autumn, we 
must spend our winter in open sea. Many miles to 
the south, Captain Back passed a memorable term of 
vigil and exposure. Here, however, I do not antici- 
pate such encounters with drifting floes as are spoken 
of in Hudson's Bay. The centre of greatest cold is 
