Jan. 1859. EFFECT OF INTENSE COLD. 



191 



happen to be thin. They lie upon the snow under the lee 

 of the ship, with no other protection from the weather. 



It surprises a man when he finds, for the first time, that his 

 tobacco pipe won't draw in consequence of the essential oil 

 in the stem becoming frozen ! and it still more astonishes 

 him when, instead of smoke issuing from the funnels, he sees 

 pendant icicles a foot or more in length attached to them ! 

 It is easily explained : all night long, whilst the fire is out, 

 warm air charged with moisture escapes by the funnel, and 

 the upper part of this copper tube, being as cold as the 

 external air, is quickly lined with the frozen moisture of 

 the escaping air. 



Even the smoke during the day only partially thaws this 

 frost, coating over the remainder with soot ; thus layers of 

 ice and of soot accumulate alternately, 

 until the passage is so contracted that 

 the smoke can no longer ascend. Then, 

 instead of the chimney-sweeper, the 

 blacksmith is sent for, the funnel taken 

 down and its contents removed. Unless 

 the cold is intense for some days together, 

 the fire a very small one, and the funnel 

 rather long, this does not occur. We are 

 rarely troubled in this way, although our 

 daily expenditure of coals this winter, for all purposes, is 

 only 88 lbs., and this supplies the galley fire and three 

 warming stoves. I have seen the frozen contents of a stove 

 pipe, made up of numerous concentric laminae of ice and 

 soot alternately, having so completely filled up the funnel as 

 to leave only a hole of an inch in diameter through the 

 centre of it. 



To-day, the winds being light and temperature up to — 30 , 

 we enjoyed walks on shore, although the mist continued so 

 dense as to limit our view to a couple of hundred yards. 



