MARVELS OF THE NORTH 367 



the rime frost and ice that had settled on the ceiling and walls are beginning 

 to melt ; and in the compartments astern of the saloon, and in the hold, we 

 have been obliged to set about a grand cleaning-up, scraping off and sweep- 

 ing away the ice and rime, to save our provisions from taking harm, through 

 the damp penetrating the wrappings and rusting holes in the tin cases. We 

 have, moreover, for a long time kept the hatchways in the hold open, so that 

 there has been a thorough draught through it, and a good deal of the rime 

 has evaporated. It is remarkable how little damp we have on board. No 

 doubt this is due to the Fram's solid construction, and to the deck over the 

 hold being paneled on the under side. I am getting fonder and fonder of 

 this ship 



MYSTERY OF THE FROZEN NORTH. 



"Sunday, November nth. I am pursuing my studies as usual day after 

 day; and they lure me, too, deeper and deeper into the insoluble mystery 

 that lies behind all these inquiries. Nay! why keep revolving in this fruit- 

 less circuit of thought ? Better go out into the winter night. The moon is 

 up, great and yellow and placid; the stars are twinkling overhead through 

 the drifting snow-dust. . . . Why not rock yourself into a winter 

 night's dream filled with memories of summer? 



"Ugh, no! The wind is howling too shrilly over the barren ice-plains; 

 there are ^3 degrees of cold, and summer, with its flowers, is far, far away. 

 I would give a year of my life to hold them in my embrace; they loom so 

 far off in the distance, as if I should never come back to them. 



"But the northern lights, with their eternally shifting loveliness, flame 

 over the heavens each day and each night. Look at them ; drink oblivion and 

 drink hope from them; they are even as the aspiring soul of man. Rest- 

 less as it, they will wreathe the whole vault of heaven with their glittering, 

 fleeting light, surpassing all else in their wild loveliness, fairer than even the ' 

 blush of dawn; but, whirling idly through empty space, they bear no mes- 

 sage of a coming day. The sailor steers his course by a star. Could you but 

 concentrate yourselves, you too, O northern lights, might lend your aid to 

 guide the wildered wanderer ! But dance on, and let me enjoy you ; stretch a 

 bridge across the gulf between the present and the time to come, and let me 

 dream far, far ahead into the future. 



"O thou mysterious radiance! what art thou, and whence comest thou? 

 Yet why ask? Is it not enough to admire thy beauty and pause there? 



