100 CONDENSERS ABAFT THE CABIN. \J(UlUary, 



cracking with loud reports, joints opening, and every 

 symptom, to men of common observation, of extraordi- 

 nary dryness, the result of the absorption of all moisture 

 which the icy surfaces can attract. Abaft my cabin, in 

 two extensive store-rooms, some devoted admirer of Na- 

 ture's wonders might enjoy himself for hours in study- 

 ing the splendid gem-studded beams, bristling with the 

 largest and most perfect specimens of ice crystals that, 

 even in fairy dreams, he could have imagined ; indeed 

 they were two ice-caverns, and took up greedily every 

 particle of moisture that could flow to them. 



Have I sufficiently impressed any one of my readers 

 with the chill which, to a solitary naval chief, should per- 

 vade my winter prison ? If not, the only mode I can 

 recommend is to volunteer to come out and try such 

 solitary confinement. If it be suggested, that it is easy 

 to find companions, I can only reply, that some prefer 

 sleep ; and sufficient topics, even in tins of preserved 

 meat, were not supplied to maintain interesting conver- 

 sation. It is this very scarcity of matter which drives 

 us to seek it from Nature, and even then, without con- 

 genial minds to discuss it, alone. 



The low temperature to which I have referred is evi- 

 dently much more keenly felt by those who have been 

 exposed to it, and even by those in charge of watches, 

 under infinitely greater protection, than last season, when 

 our lowest, 63 '5, was almost unnoticed. But as re- 

 gards my own feelings, beyond the moment, I am not 

 a competent judge, being at present an invalid. 



January 31. --The day being peculiarly fine, and tem- 

 perature at 40, I strolled as far as our first terrace, and 



