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NEW YEAR'S DA Y. Chap. XII. 



for strong hope. At midnight the expiration of the old year 

 and commencement of the new one was announced to me 

 by the to;/— flutes, accordion, and gong — striking up at my 

 door. Some songs were sung, and the performance con- 

 cluded with " God save the Queen :" the few who could find 

 space in our mess-room sang the chorus; but this by no 

 means satisfied all the others who were without and unable 

 to show themselves to the officers, so they echoed the 

 chorus, and the effect was very gratifying to our feelings, 

 if not to our ears. Our new year's day has been com- 

 memorated with all the substantiate of Christmas fare, but 

 without so much display — less tailoring in pastry, not quite 

 so much clipping of dough into roses, and anchors, and 

 nondescript animals, &c. &c. One of the pleasing little 

 incidents which attracted my attention on Christmas Day 

 was the unusual display of daguerreotypes, portraits of wives 

 or mothers, children or sisters, and a few of sweethearts : 

 almost all the crew are married. 



The past week has been cold and stormy ; it now blows 

 strong, and the temperature is — 44° 



On the 29th a few fresh tracks of animals and a ptar- 

 migan were seen; yesterday I saw three ptarmigan. Decem- 

 ber proved to be an unusually cold month, its mean tempera- 

 ture being —33°', and it was rendered more than ordinarily 

 dark and gloomy by continual mists from Bellot Strait. 

 This open water adds seriously to the drawbacks of a spot 

 already sufficiently cheerless, gameless, and " wind-loved." 



gth. — Another week of uniform temperature, — 40 , and 

 confinement to the ship by strong winds ; the atmosphere is 

 loaded with enveloping mists which impart a raw and sur- 

 prisingly keen edge to the chilling blasts, blasts that no 

 human nose can endure without blanching, be its propor- 

 tions what they may. It is wonderful how the dogs stand 

 it, and without apparent inconvenience, unless their fur 



