s, at a very low temperature of the
atmosphere.

In the severest weather, the officers sometimes amused themselves by
freezing quicksilver, and beating it out on an anvil, so great was the
severity of the cold; yet, not the slightest inconvenience was suffered,
from exposure to the open air, by persons well clothed, so long as the
weather was perfectly calm; but, in walking against even a very light
wind, a smarting sensation was experienced all over the face,
accompanied by a pain in the middle of the forehead, which soon became
severe.

As a specimen of the average proportion of ice formed in the harbour, it
is stated that, where the depth of the water was twenty-five feet, the
ice was found to be six feet and a half thick; and the snow on the
surface was eight inches deep.

Towards the end of January, some of the port-holes of one of the vessels
were opened, in order to admit the carpenters and armorers to repair the
main-top-sail-yard. On the 3d of February the sun was seen from the
main-top of the Hecla, for the first time since the 11th of November. By
the 7th, there was sufficient day-light, from eight o'clock till four,
to enable the men to perform, with facility, any work on the outside of
the ships.

On the 15th, Captain Parry was induced, by the cheering presence of the
sun, for several hours above the horizon, to open the dead-lights, or
shutters, of his stern-windows, in order to admit the day-light, after a
privation of it, for four months, in that part of the ship. The baize
curtains, which had been nailed close to the windows, in the beginning
of the winter, were, however, so firmly frozen to them, that it was
necessary to cut them away; and twelve large buckets full of ice or
frozen vapour, were taken from between the double sashes, before they
could be got clear. This premature uncovering of the windows, however,
caused such a change in the temperature of the Hecla, that, for several
weeks afterwards, those on board were sensible of a more intense degree
of cold, than they had felt during all the preceding part of the winter.

The months of March and April seem to have passed tediously on, in
watching the state of the weather. The crew of the Griper became
somewhat sickly, in consequence of the extreme moisture, which it was
found impossible to exclude from their bed-places. In May, Captain Parry
laid out a small garden, planting it with radishes, onions, mustard, and
cress; but the experiment fa