The Winter Night. 349 



when a man spits there is quite a little cloud of steam 

 round the fallen moisture. The Fram always gives off 

 a mist, which is carried along by the wind, and a man 

 or a dog can be detected far off among the hummocks 

 or pressure-ridges by the pillar of vapour that follows 

 his progress. 



" Wednesday, February yth. It is extraordinary 

 what a frail thing hope, or rather the mind of man, is. 

 There was a little breeze this morning from the N.N.E., 

 only 6 feet per second, thermometer at 57 F. below zero 

 ( 49 '6 C.), and immediately one's brow is clouded 

 over, and it becomes a matter of indifference how we get 

 home, so long as we only get home soon. I immediately 

 assume land to the northward from which come these 

 cold winds, with clear atmosphere and frost and bright 

 blue skies, and conclude that this extensive tract ot 

 land must form a pole of cold with a constant maximum 

 of air pressure, which will force us south with north- 

 east winds. About midday the air began to grow 

 more hazy, and my mood less gloomy. No doubt 

 there is a south wind coming, but the temperature is 

 still too low for it. Then the temperature, too, rises, 

 and now we can rely on the wind. And this evening it 

 came, sure enough, from S.S.W., and now, 12 p.m., its 

 velocity is 1 1 feet, and the temperature has risen to 

 43 F. below zero ( 42 C.). This promises well. We 

 should soon reach 81. The land to the northward has 

 now vanished from my mind's eye. 



