154 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
tlieir comrades’ parting sails sink down beneath the 
sun,—then watched the sun sink, as had sunk the sails; 
■—but extracts from their own simple narrative are the 
most touching record I can give you of their fate :— 
“ The 26th of August, our fleet set sail for Holland 
with a strong north-east wind, and a hollow sea, which 
continued all that night. The 28th, the wind the 
same; it began to snow very hard; we then shared 
half a pound of tobacco betwixt us, which was to 
be our allowance for a week. Towards evening we 
went about together, to see whether we could dis¬ 
cover anything worth our observation; but met with 
nothing.” And so on for many a weary day of sleet 
and storm. 
On the 8th of September they “ were frightened 
by a noise of something falling to the ground,”— 
probably some volcanic disturbance. A month later 
it becomes so cold that their linen, after a moment’s 
exposure to the air, becomes frozen like a board. 1 
1 The climate, however, does not appear to have been then so 
inclement in these latitudes as it has since become. A similar 
deterioration in the temperature, both of Spitzbergen and Greenland, 
has also been observed. In Iceland we have undoubted evidence 
