THE DEIFT. 287 
our quarter, and has got within eight hundred yards 
of us." 
The day after this the crack approached us till it 
was only ahout three hundred yards off, and then he- 
gan closing again, with the usual accompanying phe- 
nomena. The ice hetween it and us was apparently 
quiescent; but our ship quivered and jumped under 
the transmitted pressure. Soon after, in the midst of 
a heavy snow-drift, and with a temperature of —30°, 
another crack showed itself close upon our cut-water. 
The shocks which reached us during these commo- 
tions are noted in the log-hook as " apparently lifting 
the vessel aft :" the feeling was, indeed, not unlike 
that which has been observed during an earthquake, 
immediately before and sometimes during a vibration. 
January 20. The ice sounded last night like some 
one hammering a nail against the ship's side, clicking 
at regular intervals. Another crack on the other side 
of the E-escue, now showing open water, was perhaps 
the cause. 
"We already begin to experience the change in our 
axis of drift. The changes of the wind and the cur- 
rents of Baffin's Bay have impressed the great system 
which surrounds us with a marked progress to the 
south. 
" Throughout last night, and until nine o'clock this 
morning, a column of illumination depended from the 
moon. Viewing it obliquely, its penciled rays could 
be seen reaching nearly to the horizon ; while in its 
direct aspect a manifest but intermitting interval was 
apparent. It struck me as an illustration, perhaps, of 
Sir John Herschell's remark when observing the Ple- 
iades, that the centre of the retina is not the seat of 
greatest sensibility. 
