244 2^^^ P^^ COUNTRY. hesitated to embark tlie whole party in it, but in spite of the zealous efforts of the carpenter it was not nearly ready, and indeed it taxed Mac-Nab's powers to the uttermost to construct a vessel on which to trust the lives of twenty persons in such a dangerous sea. By the 16th September Victoria Island was between seventy- three and eighty miles north of the spot where its course had been arrested for a few days between the Behring and Kamtchatka Cur- rents. There were now, however, many signs of the approach . of winter. Snow fell frequently and in large flakes. The column of mercury fell gradually. The mean temperature was still 44° Fahren- heit during the day, but at night it fell to 32°. The sun described an extremely lengthened curve above the horizon, not rising, more than a few degrees even at noon,, and disappearing for eleven hours out of every twenty-four. At last, on the night of the 16th September, the first signs of ice appeared upon the sea in the shape of small isolated crystals like snow, which stained the clear surface of the water. As was noticed by the famous explorer Scoresby, these crystals immedi- ately calmed the waves, like the oil which sailors pour upon the sea to produce a momentary cessation of its agitation. These crystals showed a tendency to weld themselves together, but they were broken and separated by the motion of the water as soon as they had combined to any extent. Hobson watched the appearance of the " young ice " with extreme attention. He knew that twenty-four hours would sufiice to make the ice-crust two or three inches thick, strong enough in fact to bear the weight of a man. He therefore expected that Victoria Island would shortly be arrested in its course to the north. But the day undid the work of the night, and if the speed of the island slackened during the darkness in consequence of the obstacles in its path, they were removed in the next twelve hours, and the island was carried rapidly along again by the powerful current. The distance from the northern regions became daily less, and nothing could be done to lessen the evil. At the autumnal equinox on the 21st of September, the day and night were of equal length, and from that date the night gradually became longer and longer. The winter was coming at last, but it did not set in rapidly or with any rigour. Victoria Island was now nearly a degree farther north than the seventieth parallel ; and
