294 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



eleven the wind got to and remained at W., blowing 

 at midnight with a velocity of ten miles per hour. At 

 midnight lunar halo 4° in diameter, showing prismatic 

 colors. Strong light reflected from the floe while under 

 the moon. 



Mai'ch 19ih, Friday. — A day without any extraor- 

 dinary occurrence, except that at five p. m., local time, 

 the sun crossed the line coming N., and had as an ac- 

 companiment all day a brisk N. N. W. wind, overcast and 

 cloudy about one half the time. Much snow dust driven 

 in the air by the gusts. If it were not for one or two 

 snow storms last fall (which, however, did not amount 

 to much) we should not have known what snow was 

 from our experience here. Much of the snow dust now 

 blowing about is from the efflorescence of the floe. At 

 seven and eight a. m. five sun dogs in the sky. At mid- 

 night lunar halo, showing faint prismatic colors. 



March 20th, Saturday. — Weather clear and pleasant. 

 To my great satisfaction, as insuring a certain amount 

 of food for the dogs, Alexey shot an immense walrus 

 to-day. So large was he that thirty of the dogs and 

 four men could not drag him in over the rough ice, 

 and he was cut in two and one half brought in, leaving 

 the other half until to-morrow. A rough calculation of 

 his weight would give a ton, although Nindemann says 

 he should have put him at 2,800 lbs. It is a fortunate 

 thing that our dogs are not particular as to what they 

 eat, — seal, bear, walrus, condemned meat, fish, slops, 

 all come alike to them. Quantity rather than quality 

 is the great object for their consideration. 



Our position to-day by Chipp's observations of the sun 

 is in latitude 72° 22' 30'' N., and longitude 177° 27' 03" 

 W., showing a drift since the 13th inst. of thirteen miles 

 to the S. 49° E. Until the temperature and the sun's 



