MIDWINTER. 193 



it has run its ten days' course of brightness. And it 

 shines with a brilliancy which one will hardly observe 

 elsewhere. The uniform whiteness of the landscape 

 and the general clearness of the atmosphere add to 

 the illumination of its rays, and one may see to read 

 by its light with ease, and the natives often use it as 

 they do the sun, to guide their nomadic life and to 

 lead them to their hunting-grounds. 



The days and weeks of midwinter passed slowly 

 away. Our experience up to this period was in many 

 respects remarkable. Although sheltered by high 

 lands, we were nevertheless exposed to severe and 

 almost constant northeast winds ; and although shut 

 up in polar darkness, and hemmed in by polar ice, an 

 open sea had thus far been within sight of us all the 

 time, and the angry waves were often a threatening 

 terror. Many times we had thought ourselves in dan- 

 ger of being cast adrift with the ice, and carried out 

 to sea in a helpless condition. 



The temperature had been strangely mild, a cir- 

 cumstance at least in part accounted for by the open 

 water, and to this same cause w r as no doubt due the 

 great disturbance of the air, and the frequency of the 

 gales. I have mentioned in the last chapter a very 

 remarkable rise in the thermometer which occurred 

 early in November ; but a still greater elevation of 

 temperature followed a few weeks later, reaching as 

 high as 32°, and sinking back to 15° below zero almost 

 as suddenly as it had risen. In consequence of this 

 extraordinary and unaccountable event, the thaw w r as 

 renewed, and our former discomfort arising from the 

 dampness on the deck and in our quarters was expe- 

 rienced in an aggravated degree. During two days 

 (November 28th and 29th) we could use no other fire 



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