DRIFT NORTHWARD. 
195 
^‘‘September 20. I have been keeping the first watchj'' 
and anxiously observing the ice ; for I am no sailorg 
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 ceri^^ 
tain it is that our experience of Lancaster Sound has 
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, Avei 
have had nothing hut gales, rising and falling in aki 
ternating series from the north to northward and westd 
ward, and from the south to southward and eastward.,! 
The day was as usual ushered in with snow, and thei 
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 agaiiu 
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 morrowj 
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 
