THE ICE-PACK OPENING, MAECH 21. 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
''3Iarch 20. Thursday, the 20th of March, opens 
with a gale, a regular gale. On reaching deck after 
breakfast, I found the wind from the southeast, the 
thermometer at zero, and rising. These southeast 
storms are looked upon as having an important influ- 
ence on the ice. They are always warm, and by the 
sea which they excite at the southern margin of the 
pack, have a great effect in breaking the floes. Mr. 
Olrik told me that they were anxiously looked for on 
the G-reenland coast as precursors of open water. The 
date of the southeast gale last year, at Uppernavik, 
was April 25th. Our thermometer gave +5° at noon- 
day, + 7° at one, and +8° at three o'clock!! 
" This is the heaviest storm we have had since en- 
tering Lancaster Sound, exactly seven months and a 
day ago. The snow is whirled in such quantities, 
that our thick felt housing seems as if of gauze: it 
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