Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2Parry, William Edward, Sir
History
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Arctic regions; Northwest Passage; Parry, William Edward, Sir, 1790-1855
We proceeded on our journey southward at eight P.M., and were again
favoured with a clear and beautiful night, though the travelling was as
slow and laborious as ever, there being scarcely a tolerable floe lying
in our road. The sun now became so much lower at night, that we were
seldom annoyed by the glare from the snow. It was also a very
comfortable change to those who had to look out for the road, to have
the sun behind us instead of facing it, as on our outward journey. We
stopped to rest at a quarter past six A.M. on the 4th, after
accomplishing three miles in a south direction, over a troublesome road
of nearly twice that length. It was almost calm, and to our feelings
oppressively warm during the day, the thermometer within the boats
rising as high as 66°, which put our fur dresses nearly "out of
commission," though the mercury exposed to the sun outside did not rise
above 39°. Pursuing our journey at eight P.M., we paid, as usual, for
this comfort by the extreme softness of the snow. The upper crust would
sometimes support a man's weight for a short time, and then suddenly let
him down two or three feet, so that we could never make sure of our
footing for two steps together. Several of the men were also suffering
much at this time from chilblains, which, from the constant wet and
cold, as well as the irritation in walking, became serious sores,
keeping them quite lame. With many of our people, also, the epidermis or
scarfskin peeled off in large flakes, not merely in the face and hands,
which were exposed to the action of the sun and the weather, but in
every other part of the body; this, however, was attended with no pain,
nor with much inconvenience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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