THE DEAD OF WINTER. 213 



This cold snap followed very closely the new moon, and 

 I observed by looking back in the journal that our 

 other cold spell occurred at about the same time after 

 full moon, which 1 had been led to expect by the re- 

 marks of Dr. Kane, McClintock, and others. At the 

 full moon instance our mercurial thermometer indicated 

 minus 39.5°, which is 4.6° colder than our new moon 

 experience. The weather to-day was remarkably clear 

 and beautiful. From six p. m. to midnight the sky was 

 absolutely cloudless, and the southern horizon seemed 

 as clearly defined as a knife edge. The delicate new 

 moon a little above it, the stars bright and cold, the 

 absolute calm, made a picture such as one was forced 

 to linger over in spite of danger of freezing nose and 

 face. Turning about, an equally beautiful picture, but 

 of a different kind, met the eye, — the ship. For the 

 last two days there was considerable moisture in the 

 air, which was deposited on our rigging in rime and 

 light fluffy masses like down. Freezing there imme- 

 diately, of course, every rope and spar seemed made 

 twice its usual size ; and this evening, after gazing at 

 the perfect picture which nature gave us of a midwin- 

 ter night, to turn around and look at the ship was to 

 feel that she had dropped out of fairy-land in her pure 

 whiteness, and was too — Well, I can't say what I want 

 to. These outbursts are too much for me ; I commence 

 them, and cannot finish them ; I seem to know the tune, 

 but can never remember the words. Occasionally I go 

 out on the ice on these beautiful evenings, and try to 

 make words express my feelings suitably ; but a lot of 

 dogs wrangling over an empty meat-can, trying to find 

 a meal in it, surround me, and drag me down to plain 

 matter of fact. So I take my half-frozen nose tenderly 

 in my hand, and lead myself back on board ship. 



