284 LOW TEMPERATURE. 



told the story. As it hung against the snow wall I 

 called Jensen's attention to it. The top of the deh- 

 cate red streak of alcohol stood at 31° below zero. 



We crawled out in the open air at last, to try 

 the sunshine. " I will give you the best buffalo-skin 

 in the ship, Jensen, if the air outside is not warmer 

 than in that den which you have left so full of holes." 

 And it really seemed so. Human eye never lit upon 

 a more pure and glowing morning. The sunlight was 

 sparkling all over the landscape and the great world 

 of whiteness; and the frozen j^la^in, the hummocks, the 

 icebergs, and the tall mountains, made a picture in- 

 viting to the eye. Not a breath of air was stirring. 

 Jensen gave in without a murmur. " Well, the hut 

 must have been full of holes, after all ; but I '11 fix it 

 next time." 



I brought out the thermometer and set it up in the 

 shadow of an iceberg near by. I really expected to 

 see it rise ; but no, down sank the little red column, 

 down, down, almost to the very bulb, and it never 

 stopped until it had touched 681° below zero, — 100|° 

 below the freezing point of water.^ 



I do not recall but two instances of equally low 

 temperature having been previously recorded, one of i 

 which, by Niveroff, at Yakoutsk, in Siberia, was — 72° | 

 of the Fahrenheit scale. I am not, however, aware ' 

 that any traveler has ever noted so low a tempera- 

 ture while in the field. 



It struck me as a singular circumstance that this 

 great depression of temperature was not perceptible 

 to the senses, which utterly failed to give us even so 

 much as a hint that here in this blazing sunlight we 



1 It is worthy of observation that the lowest temperature recorded at 

 Port Foulke, dui-ing my absence, was 27° below zero. 



