Here they lay ten months; and
the arrangements made by Captain Parry for the safety of the vessels, and
for the health, comfort, and even the amusement of the crew, were planned
and effected with such admirable good sense, that listlessness and fatigue
were strangers, even among sailors, a class of men who, above all others,
it would have been apprehended, would have soon wearied of such a
monotonous life. The commencement of winter was justly dated from the 14th
of September, when the thermometer suddenly fell to 9 deg.. On the 4th of
November the sun descended below the horizon, and did not appear again till
the 8th of February. A little before and after what in other places is
called the shortest day, but which to them was the middle of their long
night, there was as much light as enabled them to read small print, when
held towards the south, and to walk comfortably for two hours. Excessive
cold, as indicated by the thermometer, took place in January: it then sunk
from 30 deg. to 40 deg. below Zero: on the 11th of this month it was at 49 deg.; yet no
disease, or even pain or inconvenience was felt in consequence of this most
excessive cold, provided the proper precautions were used; nor did any
complaint arise from the extreme and rapid change of temperature to which
they were exposed, when, as was often the case, they passed from the
cabins, which were kept heated up to 60 deg.
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