CHAPTER IV. 
BORING THE FLOES — SUCCESSFUL PASSAGE THROUGH MELVILLE 
BAY—ICE NAVIGATION — PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE PACK-THE 
NORTH WATER. 
Our brig went crunching through all this jewelry; 
and, after a tortuous progress of five miles, arrested 
here and there by tongues which required the saw and 
ice-chisels, fitted herself' neatly between two floes. Here 
she rested till toward morning, when the leads opened 
again, and I was able, from the crow’s-nest, to pick our 
way to a larger pool some distance ahead. In this we 
beat backward and forward, like China fish seeking 
an outlet from a glass jar, till the fog caught us again; 
and so the day ended. 
“ August 3, Wednesday.—The day did not promise 
well; but as the wind was blowing in feeble airs from 
the north-northwest, I thought it might move the ice, 
and sent out the boats for a tow. But, after they had 
had a couple of hours of unprofitable work, the breeze 
freshened, and the floes opened enough to allow us to 
beat through them. Every thing now depended upon 
practical ice knowledge; and, as I was not willing to 
