194 NORTHWARD 



change was the rise in temperature; the mercury now 

 climbed well above freezing-point, and those individuals 

 on board who were still more or less clad in skins, shed 

 the last remnants of their Polar garb for a lighter and 

 more convenient costume. Those who waited longest 

 before making the change were the ones who belonged 

 to the shore party. The numerous people who imagine 

 that a long stay in the Polar regions makes a man less 

 susceptible of cold than other mortals are completely 

 mistaken. The direct opposite is more likely to be the 

 case. A man who stays some time in a place where 

 the everyday temperature is down in the fifties below 

 zero, or more than that, will not trouble himself greatly 

 about the cold, so long as he has good and serviceable 

 skin clothing. Let the same man, rigged out in civilized 

 clothes, be suddenly put down in the streets of Chris- 

 tiania on a winter day, with thirty or thirty-five degrees 

 of frost, and the poor fellow's teeth will chatter till they 

 fall out of his mouth. The fact is, that on a Polar trip 

 one defends oneself effectively against the cold; when 

 one comes back, and has to go about with the protection 

 afforded by an overcoat, a stiff collar, and a hard hat — 

 well, then one feels it. 



A less welcome consequence of the difference in 

 latitude was the darkening of the nights. It may be 

 admitted that continual daylight would be unpleasant 

 in the long run ashore, but aboard ship an everlasting 

 day would certainly be preferred, if such a thing could 



