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close beside the coffins of Pierce & Baker Sonn=
=tag was at work with the unifilar correc=
=ting the winter disturbances. Our local de=
viation seems to have corrected itself. The
stove was not the only iron of our com=
=fortless little cell and we seem to have
so distributed it that our results are not
affected.

* * * *

(One thing during my walk
impressed me - the condition of the ice.
Hitherto I had been dependent upon the
accounts of my messmates and had believed
that the work of the thaw was going on with
increasing rapidity. This my experience
sadly contradicted. We have a late season and
a badly influential ice. The foot had not
materially changed either in health or level.
Its tooth has been affected very little at
its base except by "overflow". The floe
although undergoing the molecular changes
described in my ice notes shows less
surface changes than the Lancaster Sound
ice in April & early May.

These, but especially the condition
of the ice=foot warn me to prepare for the
contingency of not escaping. Without coal
we cannot spend a second winter here and
our stock of fresh provisions is utterly exhaus=
ted. Our sick need change as an essential
to their recovery. Few or none of us would
survive a second winter.

Under these circumstances after
quietly consulting with Ohlsen and Petersen
I have given and ordered as will prepare us
at any notice for a boat journey to the
South. The tents, tarpaulins, provision bags
&c. &c. will be at hand and I can thus
remain by the brig up to the last moment.
My destination should we be obliged to