We halted for our resting-time at six A.M. on the 13th, having gained
only two miles and a half of northing, over a road of about four, and
this accomplished by ten hours of fatiguing exertion. We were here in
latitude, by the noon observation, 82 deg. 17' 10", and could find no
bottom with four hundred fathoms of line. We launched the boats at seven
in the evening, the wind being moderate from the E.S.E., with fine,
clear weather, and were still mortified in finding that no improvement
took place in the road over which we had to travel; for the ice now
before us was, if possible, more broken up and more difficult to pass
over than ever. Much of it was also so thin as to be extremely dangerous
for the provisions; and it was often a nervous thing to see our whole
means of existence lying on a decayed sheet, having holes quite through
it in many parts, and which the smallest motion among the surrounding
masses might have instantly broken into pieces. There was, however, no
choice, except between this road and the more rugged though safer
hummocks, which cost ten times the labour to pass over. Mounting one of
the highest of these at nine P.M., we could discover nothing to the
north, ward but the same broken and irregular surface; and we now began
to doubt whether we should at all meet with the solid fields of unbroken
ice which every account had led us to expect in a much lower latitude
than this.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353