26 
ICE-PRESSURE. 
apparent levity with which I have detailed them seems 
out of keeping with the date under which they stand. 
In truth, I was in no mirthful humor at any time 
during the month of January. I had a grave office to 
perform, and under grave responsibilities; and I had 
measured them well. I come back, after this long 
digression, to my daily record of anxieties:— 
“January 19, Friday.—The declining tides allow 
the ice beneath the ship to take the ground at low- 
water. This occasions, of course, a good deal of up¬ 
heaval and some change of position along the ice-tables 
in which we are cradled. Mr. Ohlsen reports a bend¬ 
ing of our cross-beams of six inches, showing that the 
pressure is becoming dangerous. Any thing like leak¬ 
age would be disastrous in the present condition of the 
party. Our cabin-floor, however, was so elevated by 
our carpenter’s work of last fall that it could not be 
flooded more than six inches; and I hope that the 
under-bottom ice exceeds that height. At any rate Ave 
can do nothing, but must await the movements of the 
floe. March is to be our critical month. 
“George Whipple sIioavs swelled legs and other 
symptoms of the enemy; Riley continues better; 
Brooks weak, but holding his ground; Wilson no 
better; if any thing, Avorse. I am myself so disabled 
in the joints as to be entirely unfit to attend to the 
traps or do any work. I shall try the vapor-bath and 
sweat, Indian fashion. 
“January 21, Sunday.—We have been using up our 
tar-laid hemp hawsers for nearly a week, by way of 
