Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/207

188 Harbour was so solidly frozen that he could not get through it, and was obliged to make for another point this side. At last he made a landing, and proceeded to an eminence this side; but it was not such a view as he desired to make, though he saw enough to satisfy him that it would only be running a terrible risk to attempt getting out this season. Captain B designs crossing the bay to the high land by Parker's Harbour, or near French Head, to-day or to-morrow, if the ice will admit of it.

"October 20th, 1861.—This morning the ice in the harbour was so firm as to bear me up. As soon as I went on deck, long before the sun was up, I made my way down the ship's side upon it. The pack outside the bay, and the new ice now nearly covering it, have us imprisoned. For nine months to come we are ice-bound! Some of the men still think we shall get out, but I do not think Captain B has now the remotest idea that we can.

"Now (1 ) the thermometer is at 13°, the sun shining brightly, the sky cloudless. For three days now, had there been a clear way before us, we could not have got out, for there has not been wind enough to fill the sails. Surely we are doomed to winter here. Another year of disappointment is mine; my mission to the North yet unaccomplished, I was rejoicing in my heart that the time had nearly arrived when I should be on my way to the States for the purpose of preparing again for the voyage to King William's Land, when a thunderbolt descends from an icy sky and rives my dearest plans! But stop! is not the hand of God in this? is all this luck? The wisdom of Him who sees all, and doth as He willeth, is above all the comprehension of mortals. " ... Monday, October 21st, 1861.—The ice this morning I find by measurement to be four inches thick. During the night it was nearly calm, and the thermometer ranged from 9° to 10°. Notwithstanding the dubious circumstances by which we have been surrounded for the past few days, we have all had more or less hope of still arriving at our homes