78 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. Jfly 



Iii Kennedy Channel so large and heavy a floe as 

 the one the " Polaris " people fortunately happened to 

 light upon is rare. 



' The temperature of the air in the shade remains 

 at about 40°. Although there is only three or four 

 degrees difference between the temperature at noon 

 and midnight, it is yet sensibly hotter in the middle 

 of the day, and the run of water in the ravines is 

 considerably increased. They are now readily ford- 

 able, and it evidently freezes nightly in the higher 

 lands. In a fortnight's time the warm season will be 

 over and everything on shore will be permanently 

 frozen again. 



' The purple carpet of saxifrage profusely spread 

 over the ground early in the week, in consequence of 

 exposure to constant sunlight day and night, has lasted 

 only for about ten days ; it has now given place to the 

 bright yellow ranunculus and draba, with a rich sprink- 

 ling of the more delicate tinted poppy and mountain 

 avens, and a small yellow saxifrage. In the richest 

 clumps of vegetation the most homely flower of all, 

 the pretty white Cerastium alpinum, is pleasantly inter- 

 spersed amongst the grass and mosses. 



4 Since the removal of the snow we have found a 

 considerable quantity of dwarf willow spreading out its 

 branches along the ground in the water-ways. It 

 would appear that it requires greater protection from 

 the cold than the hardier saxifrage, which can exist 

 without a snow covering. 



1 There is much vegetation still covered by snow. 

 I cannot think it dead, as even at this late season 

 as soon as a patch is bared by the thaw it gives 



