The Winter Night. 391 



" But the temperature continues to fall, the ice grows 

 thicker and ever thicker ; life's domain vanishes. Millions 

 of years roll on, and the ice reaches the bottom. The 

 last trace of life has disappeared ; the earth is covered 

 with snow. All that we lived for is no longer ; the fruit 

 of all our toil and sufferings has been blotted out millions 

 and millions of years ago, buried beneath a pall of snow. 

 A stiffened, lifeless mass of ice this earth rolls on in 

 her path through eternity. Like a faintly glowing disc, the 

 sun crosses the sky ; the moon shines no more, and is 

 scarcely visible. Yet still, perhaps, the northern lights 

 flicker over the desert, icy plain, and still the stars 

 twinkle in silence, peacefully as of yore. Some have 

 burnt out, but new ones usurp their place ; and round 

 them revolve new spheres, teeming with new life, new 

 sufferings without any aim. Such is the infinite cycle of 

 eternity ; such are nature's everlasting rhythms. 



" Monday, April 3Oth. Drifting northwards. Yester- 

 day observations gave 80 42', and to-day 80 44^'. The 

 w T ind steady from the south and south-east. 



"It is lovely spring weather. One feels that spring- 

 time must have come, though the thermometer denies it. 

 ' Spring cleaning ' has begun on board ; the snow and 

 ice along the Fraiii s sides are cleared aw r ay, and she 

 stands out like the crags from their winter covering 

 decked with the flowers of spring. The snow lying on 

 the deck is little by little shovelled overboard ; her 

 rigging rises up against the clear sky clean and dark, 



