up a winter, he probably would, but islands no doubt exist there, as well as in a lower latitude; and we anticipate a more open sea, and milder climate.

By the aid of stoves, they maintained a temperature in the ships, which was frequently sixty degrees higher than that of the air. Most of their liquids froze, and they suffer d a heavy loss in the lemon juices, that were on board, as antiscorbuticsthe only resource was to remove the cases which contained them, from the sides of the vessel to midships. A few gallons of very highly concentrated vinegar, withstood the frost; but even this congealed to the thickness of honey.

The circumstances of our situation being such as have never before occurred to the crews of any of his majesty's ships, it may not, perhaps, be considered wholly uninteresting to know in what manner our time was thus so fully occupied throughout the long and severe winter, which it was our lot to experience, and particularly during a three month's interval of nearly total darkness.

The officers and quarter-masters were divided into four watches, which were regularly kept, as at sea, while the remainder of the ship's company were allowed to enjoy their night's rest undisturbed. The hands were turned up at a quarter before six, and both decks were well rubbed with stones and warm sand before eight o'clock, at which time, as usual at sea, both officers and men went to breakfast. Three quarters of an hour being allowed after breakfast for the men to prepare themselves for muster, we then beat to divisions punctually at a quarter past nine, when every person on board attended on the quarter-deck, and a strict inspection of the men took place, as to their personal cleanliness, and the good condition, as well as sufficient warmth, of their clothing. The reports of the officers having been made to me, the people were then allowed to walk about, or more usually, to run round the upper deck, while I went down to examine the state of that below, accompanied, as I before mentioned, by Lieutenant Beechey and Mr. Edwards. The state of this deck may be said, indeed, to have constituted the chief source of our anxiety, and to have occupied by far the greatest share of our attention at this period. Whenever any dampness appeared, or, what more frequently happened, any accumulation of ice taking place during the preceding night, the necessary means were immediately adopted for removing it; in the former case usually by rubbing the wood with cloths, and then directing the warm air-pipe towards the place; and in the latter, by scraping off the ice so as to prevent its wetting the deck by any accidental increase of temperature. In this respect the bed-places were particularly troublesome ; the inner partition, or that next the ship's side, being almost invariably covered with more or less dampness or ice, according to the temperature of the deck during the preceding night. This inconvenience might to a great degree have been avoided, by a sufficient quantity of fuel to keep up two good fires on the lower deck, through

out the twenty-four hours; but our stock of coals would by no means permit this, bearing in mind the possibility of our spending a second winter within the Arctic circle; and this comfort could only, therefore, be allowed on a few occasions, during the most severe part of the winter.

In the course of my examination of the lower deck, I had always an opportunity of seeing those few men who were on the sick list, and of receiving from Mr. Edwards a report of their respective cases; as also of consulting that gentleman as to the means of improving the warmth, ventilation, and general comfort of the inhabited parts of the ship. Having performed this duty, we returned to the upper deck, where I personally inspected the men; after which they were sent out to walk on shore when the weather would permit, till noon, when they returned on board to their dinner. When the day was too inclement for them to take this exercise, they were ordered to run round and round the deck, keeping step to a tune on the organ, or, not unfrequently, to a song of their own singing. Among the men were a few who did not at first quite like this systematic mode of taking exercise; but when they found that no plea, except that of illness, was admitted as an excuse, they not only willingly and cheerfully complied, but made it the occasion of much humour and frolic among themselves.

It

'The officers, who dined at two o'clock, were also in the habit of occupying one or two hours in the middle of the day in rambling on shore, even in our darkest period, except when a fresh wind and a heavy snow-drift confined them within the housing of the ships. may be well imagined that at this period there was but little to be met with in our walks on shore, which could either amuse or interest us. The necessity of not exceeding the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snow-drtft, which often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which, day after day, presented itself. To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hammocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground in some exposed situations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm and clear days, which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce contemplation, which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen on which the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where the ships lay, and where our little colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the prospect; and the sound of voices which, during the cold weather,

could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us, a silence far different from that peaceable composure, which characterises the landscape of a cultivated country; it was the death-like stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence. Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye, or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size appearing above the snow, in the direction in which we were going, immediately became a mark, on which our eyes were unconsciously fixed, and towards which we mechanically advanced.

Dreary as such a scene must necessarily be, it could not, however, be said to be wholly wanting in interest, especially when associated in the mind with the peculiarity of our situation, the object which had brought us hither, and the hopes which the least sanguine among us sometimes entertained, of spending a part of our next winter in the more genial climate of the South-Sea islands. Perhaps, too, though none of us then ventured to confess it, our thoughts would sometimes involuntarily wander homewards, and institute a comparison between the rugged face of nature in this desolate region, and the livelier aspect of the happy land which we had left behind us.

It

'We had frequent occasion, in our walks on shore, to remark the deception which takes place in estimating the distance and magnitude of objects, when viewed over an unvaried surface of snow. was not uncommon for us to direct our steps towards what we took to be a large mass of stone, at the distance of half a mile from us, but which we were able to take up in our hands after one minute's walk. This was more particularly the case when ascending the brow of a hill, nor did we find that the deception became less, on account of the frequency with which we experienced its effects.

In the afternoon the men were usually occupied in drawing and knotting yarns, and in making points and gaskets; a never-failing resource, where mere occupation is required, and which it was necessary to perform entirely on the lower deck, the yarns becoming so hard and brittle, when exposed on deck to the temperature of the atmosphere, as to be too stiff for working, and very easily broken. I may in this place remark, that our lower rigging became extremely slack during the severity of the winter, and gradually tightened again as the spring returned; effects the very reverse of those which we had anticipated, and which I can only account for by the extreme dryness of the atmosphere in the middle of winter, and the subsequent increase of moisture.

After

'At half past five in the evening, the decks were cleared up, and at six we again beat to divisions, when the same examination of the men and of their births and bed-places took place as in the morning; the people then went to their supper, and the officers to tea. this time the men were permitted to amuse themselves as they pleased, and games of various kinds, as well as dancing and singing occasionally, went on upon the lower deck till nine o'clock, when they

went to bed, and their lights were extinguished. In order to guard against accidents by fire, where so many fires and lights were necessarily in use, the quarter-masters visited the lower deck every half hour during the night, and made their report to the officers of the watches that all was, in this respect, safe below; and to secure a ready supply of water in case of fire, a hole was cut twice a day in the ice, close alongside each ship It is scarcely necessary to add, that the evening occupations of the officers were of a more rational kind than those which engaged the attention of the men. Of these, reading and writing were the principal employments, to which were occasionally added a game at chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, till half-past ten, about which time we all retired to rest.' pp. 112 -15.

Such was the monotony of their lives, and such the foresight that protected them in their novel situation. The thermometer was found, commonly, 2 or 3 degrees higher near the vessels, than on shore: this must have been owing to their fires, breaths, &c. On the night of the 14th of February, a thermometer, suspended from a pole between the ships and the shore, never rose above-54°! and at six in the morning, stood as low as -55°! a light wind springing up from the northward, it rose immediately to -49°; and continued to rise until it was as high as -34°. This was the lowest temperature, indicated by their spirit thermometer, during the winter. While inactive, they suffered no inconvenience in the open air; but a motion against a slight air affected them severely with a pricking sensation, and a smart pain in the centre of the forehead. One of their amusements, during this extremely cold weather, was in freezing mercury.Mr. Parry had caused the lining of cloth, between the double windows of his cabin, to be removed, in order to admit the light, of which they had now been deprived, while below deck, for four months. This was about the middle of February, and it turned out to be a premature order;-it admitted the air into the vessel, and caused a sensible change in their atmosphere for the worse. One of its effects was, to stop two of the chronometers in the cabin.

The weather was still fine and clear overhead on the 24th, but there being a moderate breeze from the northward which raised a little snow-drift, with the thermometer from --42° to -44° during the day, it was very severe in the open air. At a quarter past ten, while the men were running round the decks for exercise, and were on that account fortunately well clothed, the house on shore was discovered to be on fire. All the officers, and men of both ships, instantly ran up to extinguish it; and having, by great exertion, pulled off the roof with ropes, and knocked down a part of the sides, so as to allow snow to be thrown upon the flames, we succeeded in getVOL. IV.

11

ting it under, after three quarters of an hour, and fortunately before the fire had reached that end of the house where the two clocks, together with the transit, and other valuable instruments, were standing in their cases. Having removed these, and covered the ruins with snow, to prevent any remains of fire from breaking out again, we returned on board till more temperate weather should enable us to dig out the rest of the things, among which nothing of any material consequence was subsequently found to have suffered injury; and, having mustered the ship's companies to see that they had put on dry clothes before going to dinner, they were employed during the rest of the day in drying those which had been wet. The appearance which our faces presented at the fire was a curious one, almost every nose and cheek having become quite white with frostbites in five minutes after being exposed to the weather; so that it was deemed necessary for the medical gentlemen, together with some others appointed to assist them, to go constantly round, while the men were working at the fire, and to rub with snow the parts affected, in order to restore animation Notwithstanding this precaution, which, however, saved many frost bites, we had an addition of no less than sixteen men to the sick-lists of both ships, in consequence of this accident. Among these there were four or five cases which kept the patients confined for several weeks; but John Smith, of the artillery, who was Captain Sabine's servant and who, together with sergeant Martin, happened to be in the house at the time the fire broke out, was unfortunate enough to suffer much more severely. In their anxiety to save the dipping needle, which was standing close to the stove, and of which they knew the value, they imme. diately ran out with it; and Smith, not having time to put on his gloves, had his fingers in half an hour so benumbed, and the animation so completely suspended, that, on his being taken on board by Mr. Edwards, and having his hands plunged into a basin of cold water, the surface of the water was immediately frozen by the intense cold thus suddenly communicated to it; and notwithstanding the most humane and unremitting attention paid to them by the medical gentlemen, it was found necessary, some time after, to resort to the amputation of a part of four fingers on one hand, and three on the other.' pp. 132—3.

It was the 6th of March, before the thermometer rose to zero. On the 7th, snow, that lay on the black paint of the stern of the vessel, which had a south exposure, thawed a little,-while that on yellow paint, did not yield in the least. The sun now began to have considerable power; and on the 16th, an experiment was made, by which the thermometer gave a difference, at noon, of 50°, between the stern of the vessel (in the rays of the sun) and in the shade. On the same evening, the North Georgia theatre closed, we presume, on account of the warmth of the weather-the thermometer standing at -13° at 3 o'clock