ice.]

On the 2d of April a thin sheet of bay-ice several miles square had
formed on the sea to the eastward and southward, where for two or three
days past there had been a space of open water. This was occasioned more
by the wind remaining very moderate and the neap tides occurring about
this time than from any great degree of cold, the thermometer seldom
falling below -6 deg. or -7 deg. The wind, however, settling in the
southeast to-day, the main body of ice, which had been scarcely visible
in the offing, soon began to move inshore, forcing before it the young
floe and squeezing it up into innumerable hummocks, which presently, being
cemented together by a fresh formation in their interstices, constituted
an example of one of the ways in which these "hummocky floes" are
produced, of which I have before so often had occasion to speak. We were
always glad to see this squeezing process take place while the ice was
still thin enough to admit of it, as it thus became compressed perhaps
into one-fiftieth part of the compass that it would otherwise have
occupied, and of course left so much the more open space upon the
surface of the sea. The temperature of the water at the bottom in eight
fathoms was to-day 28 deg., being the same as that of the surface.

Early in the morning the Esquimaux had been observed in motion at the
huts, and several sledges drawn by dogs and heavily laden went off to
the westward. On going out to the village, we found one-half of the
people had quitted their late habitations, taking with them every
article of their property, and had gone over the ice, we knew not where,
in quest of more abundant food. The wretched appearance which the
interior of the huts now presented baffles all description. In each of
the larger ones some of the apartments were either wholly or in part
deserted, the very snow which composed the beds and fireplaces having
been turned up, so that no article might be left behind. Even the bare
walls, whose original color was scarcely perceptible for black, blood,
and other filth, were not left perfect, large holes having been made
in the sides and roofs for the convenience of handing out the goods
and chattels. The sight of a deserted habitation is at all times
calculated to excite in the mind a sensation of dreariness and
desolation, especially when we have lately seen it filled with cheerful
inhabitants; but the feeling is even heightened rather than diminished
when a s