302 Chapter VI. 



by a newly formed opening in the ice, which I dared not 

 cross on the thin layer of fresh ice. In the afternoon, 

 as a first Christmas entertainment, we tried an ice- 

 blasting with four prisms of gun-cotton. A hole was 

 made with one of the large iron drills we had brought 

 with us for this purpose, and the charge, with the end of 

 the electric connecting wire, was sunk about a foot below 

 the surface of the ice. Then all retired, the knob was 

 touched, there was a dull crash, and water and pieces of 

 ice were shot up into the air. Although it was 60 yards 

 off, it gave the ship a good jerk that shook everything on 

 board, and brought the hoar-frost down from the rigging. 

 The explosion blew a hole through the four-feet-thick ice, 

 but its only other effect was to make small cracks round 

 this hole. 



" Sunday, December 24th. Christmas Eve. 67 of 

 cold ( 37 C.). Glittering moonlight and the endless 

 stillness of the Arctic night. I took a solitary stroll 

 over the ice. The first Christmas Eve, and how far 

 away ! The observation shows us to be in 79 1 1' north 

 latitude. There is no drift ; 2' farther south than six days 



ago." 



There are no further particulars given of this day in 

 the diary, but when I think of it, how clearly it all conies 

 back to me ! There was a peculiar elevation of mood 

 on board that was not at all common among us. Every 

 man's inmost thoughts were with those at home, but his 

 comrades were not to know that, and so there was more 



