LANCASTER SOUND. 
243 
visible to the northward and eastward, and to the east 
are the ice-clogged waters of Lancaster Sound. 
“ November 30. When I came on deck this morning, 
the lanterns were burning at ten o’clock, and the south- 
ern sky had not even a trace of red. Our head had 
slewed rather more to the southward ; and off on our 
starboard beam sundry dark lines on the ice had a 
suspicious look. I walked toward them with some of 
our officers. After sundry groping tumbles, we came, 
sure enough, upon open water, one hundred yards to 
the south of the brig. Returning on our track, and 
taking a new departure toward the east — open water 
again. Off to the dim, hazy north — still open water. 
Off to the hummocky west, feeling our way with walk- 
ing-poles — open water all round us. Once more, then, 
we are launched on a little ice-island, to float wher- 
ever God’s mercy may guide us. 
“The India-rubber boat inflated, and a few clothes 
stowed away, ready for a sudden break out ; and all 
hands turn in for the night. 
‘•^December 1. There was a rude murmur in the 
night, that mingled its tones of admonition with the 
wind. But we are habituated pretty thoroughly to 
sounds of this sort, and they have ceased to disturb 
us. Walking after breakfast toward the northeast, to 
an ice-quarry, from which we have obtained our fresh 
water of late, we found that a water-crack we observed 
yesterday had undergone severe pressure during the 
night, and that the action was still going on. A low, 
hazy twilight just allowed us to distinguish near ob- 
jects. A level, snow-covered surface was rising up in 
inclined planes or rudely undulating curves. These, 
breaking at their summits, fell off on each side in 
masses of twenty tons’ weight. Tables of six feet in 
