TRACKING. 
79 
due east. We are already protected from the south, 
but fearfully exposed to a northerly gale. Of this 
there are fortunately no indications. 
“August 23, Tuesday.—We tracked along the ice- 
belt for about one mile, when the tide fell, and the 
brig grounded, heeling over until she reached her bear¬ 
ings. She rose again at 10 p. M., and the crew turned 
out upon the ice-belt. 
TRACKING ALONG THE ICE-BELT. 
“The decided inclination to the eastward which the 
shore shows here is important as a geographical fea¬ 
ture ; but it has made our progress to the actual north 
much less than our wearily-earned miles should count 
for us. Our latitude, determined by the sun’s lower 
culmination, if such a term can be applied to his mid¬ 
night depression, gives 78° 41'. We are farther north, 
therefore, than any of our predecessors, except Parry 
on his Spitzbergen foot-tramp. There are those with 
whom, no matter how insuperable the obstacle, failure 
involves disgrace: we are safe at least from their 
censure. 
