1 86 DEPARTURE OF THE SUN. Chap. XII. 



able headboard and inscription will be placed over it. From 

 all that I have gathered, it appears that his mind had been 

 somewhat gloomy for the last few days, dwelling much upon 

 poor Scott's sudden death. Whether he really saw three 

 reindeer on Saturday, watched their movements, and fired 

 his Minie rifle at them when 700 yards distant, or whether it 

 was the creation of a disordered brain, none can tell. On 

 his first return on board he said he had seen deer tracks 



only. 



We are now without either engineer or engine-driver : we 

 have only two stokers, and they know nothing about the 

 machinery. Our numbers are reduced to twenty-four, 

 including our interpreter and two Greenland Esquimaux. 



i$th. — We have enjoyed ten days of moderate winds and 

 calms, but the temperature has fallen as low as — 31 . 

 This causes frost-cracks in the ice across the harbour ; they 

 will freeze over, and others will form, and gape, and freeze 

 at intervals, so that by next spring we shall probably be 

 moved several feet off shore. 



Mists have obscured the sun of late, and now it does not 

 rise at all. We are indifferent ; its departure has become to 

 us a matter of course. The usual winter covering of snow 

 has been spread upon deck rather more than a foot thick. 

 Its utility in preventing the escape of heat became at once 

 strikingly apparent. Nothing has been seen but a few 

 ptarmigan and one reindeer, which trotted off from the land 

 towards the ship. Our bullets missed him, and the dogs 

 unfortunately caught sight and chased him away. I do not 

 think any dogs could overtake a reindeer in this rough 

 country ; the rocks would speedily lame them, and the snow, 

 in many places, is quite deep enough to fatigue them greatly, 

 whereas it offers but slight impediment to the deer, furnished 

 as he is with long legs and spreading hoofs. 



29///. — Animals have become very scarce. A few ptarmi- 



