162i A CHEERFUL DAY. 



Sunday, on which day, even in this remote corner of 

 the world, everybody puts on his best, and at Sunday 

 morning muster my people present a very neat and 

 creditable appearance. The gray uniform which I 

 have adopted as a dress-suit is always worn on that 

 occasion, both by officers and men. Each officer has 

 a sailor for a " washerwoman," and I have mine ; and 

 Knorr has just brought me in the most encouraging 

 accounts of his skill, and as a proof of it I found on 

 my table, when I came in out of the moonlight from 

 a tramp to the open water, (where I had been making 

 some observations for temperature,) a well-starched 

 and neatly ironed cambric handkerchief, sprinkled 

 with cologne. 



The day, for some reason or other, seems to have 

 been peculiarly bright and cheerful to everybody, and 

 the cheerfulness runs on into the evening. I fancy 

 that our old cook was in a more than usually good 

 humor, and doubtless this has had something to do 

 with it. For my own part, I must acknowledge the 

 power of his artistic skill as affecting the moral sen- 

 timents. My walk to the open water was both cold 

 and fatiguing. Desiring to get out as far as I could, 

 I sprang over the loose ice-tables, and reached an 

 iceberg near " The Twins," which I mounted ; and, 

 after digging a hole into it, found that it had a tem- 

 perature only 8° lower than the temperature of the 

 water that floated it, which was 29°. I scrambled 

 back to the fast ice as quickly as I could, for the tide 

 and wind, which were strong from the land, looked 

 very much as if they intended to carry the raft out 

 to sea. 



To come back to the cook, — I was in a condition 

 upon my return to do ample justice to a fillet of veni- 



