44 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
closed, the cabin became more uncomfortable than 
the deck. Water spilt on the table, within three 
feet of a hot air-stove, became ice; washed linen 
became hard and sonorous; and mitts that had 
been hung to dry exactly in the front of the fire, 
(the grate being full of blazing coals), and only 
thirty inches distant, were partially frozen; and 
even good ale placed in a mug at the foot of the 
stove, began to congeal! A damp hand applied 
to any metallic substance in the open air, stuck 
to it; and the tongue brought into contact with 
the same, adhered so firmly, that it could not be 
removed, without the loss of the skin. Some of 
the sailors suffered considerably from partial frost¬ 
bites. The cooper had his nose frozen, and was 
obliged to submit to a severe friction with snow; 
and the boatswain almost lost his hearing. 
About 7 p. M., and from that time until 9, 
there were two diffuse parhelia visible. Part of 
a prismatic circle, about 23° distant from the sun, 
surrounded this luminary: at the same altitude 
as the sun, and on the external margin of this cir¬ 
cle, at the two extremities of its horizontal dia¬ 
meter, the parhelia appeared. At this time there 
were occasional small clouds passing over the sun, 
and discharging slight showers of fine granular 
snow, mixed perhaps with spiculue: whenever the 
corona appeared on the face of these clouds, or frn- 
