181 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Short Days. Minimum Temperatures. Warmth of Vessels. A She- 

 Bear. Preparations for Travel. Theatricals. Shortest Day. 

 Christmas Ode. Christmas Fare. Depth of Winter. The New 

 1 ear. -Comparison of Thermometers. Freezing Mercury. Range 

 of Extreme Cold. Freezing Ale. Alcohol at a low Temperature. 



ON the 10th of December our nights had become deci- 

 dedly dark, and our small portion of day does not fairly 

 dawn on us until near eleven, when it is about as bright 

 as a September morning in England, at fifteen minutes 

 before daylight. At noon a delicate rose-tint pervades the 

 horizon to the south-east and south-west, where the land 

 affords an horizon, permitting a very peculiar marked 

 pencil line on distant objects. The land in our immediate 

 neighbourhood exhibits just such a clear outline as the 

 moon would produce if rising or passing at a slight ele- 

 vation round the horizon ; but notwithstanding the irre- 

 gularities on the outline are so very distinct, I was sur- 

 prised that I was unable to detect our substantial cairns 

 on the several points, so prominent but a week since : 

 they did not exceed three or five miles in distance, and 

 doubtless would have been very apparent through the 

 telescope. Such a distinction, then, in tracing objects, I 



