After nearly two hours' labour,
we could only get down as many feet, the ice being very hard,
brittle, and transparent; more so, as we imagined, than salt-water
ice usually is, which made us the more desirous to get through it.
I therefore determined to return to our people, and to remove our
encampment hither, for the purpose of completing the hole through
the ice with all our hands, while we were obtaining the necessary
observations on shore.
On our return to the tents, we dined, and rested till one o'clock
on the morning of the 7th, when we set out for the point, at which
we did not arrive till half past four, the snow being here so deep
as to make the cart an improper, and, indeed, almost impracticable
mode of conveying our baggage. It froze all day in the shade, with
a fresh breeze from the north; and, though the tents were pitched
under the lee of the grounded ice upon the beach, we found it
extremely cold; all the pools of water were frozen hard during the
night, and, some of our canteens burst from the same cause. The
people were allowed to rest after their supper till four P.M., and
were then set to work upon the ice and in building a monument on
the top of the Point.
We dined at midnight; and at half past one A.
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