, and the one next within it, had the red on the outer or upper part
of the circle, the others on the inner side.

We halted at a quarter past three on the morning of the 24th, having
made four miles and a half N.N.E., over a road of about seven and a
half, most of which we traversed, as usual, three times. We moved again
at four P.M. over a difficult road, composed of small and rugged ice. So
small was the ice now around us, that we were obliged to halt for the
night at two A.M. on the 25th, being upon the only piece in sight, in
any direction, on which we could venture to trust the boats while we
rested. Such was the ice in the latitude of 82-3/4 deg.

The wind had now got round to the W.N.W., with raw, foggy weather, and
continued to blow fresh all day. Snow came on soon after our halting,
and about two inches had fallen when we moved again at half past four
P.M. We continued our journey in this inclement weather for three hours,
hauling from piece to piece, and not making more than three quarters of
a mile progress, till our clothes and bread-bags had become very wet,
and the snow fell so thick that we could no longer see our way. It was
therefore necessary to halt, which we did at half past seven, putting
the awnings over the boats, changing our wet clothes, and giving the men
employment for the mere sake of occupying their minds. The weather
improving towards noon on the 26th, we obtained the meridian altitude of
the sun, by which we found ourselves in latitude 82 deg. 40' 23"; so that,
since our last observation (at midnight on the 22d), we had lost by
drift no less than thirteen miles and a half; for we were now more than
three miles to the _southward_ of that observation, though we had
certainly travelled between ten and eleven due north in this interval!
Again, we were but one mile to the north of our place at noon on the
21st, though we had estimated our distance made good at twenty-three
miles. Thus it appeared that for the last five days we had been
struggling against a southerly drift exceeding four miles per day.

It had, for some time past, been too evident that the nature of the ice
with which we had to contend was such, and its drift to the southward,
especially with a northerly wind, so great, as to put beyond our reach
anything but a very moderate share of success in travelling to the
northward. Still, however, we had been anxious to reach the highest
latitude which our means would allow, and with t