UNDER TPIE MIDNIGHT SUN. 343 



May 8th, Saturday. — The coming and going of one 

 more day and nothing gained. This kind of life is 

 really becoming monotonous. Each day finds our coal 

 pile diminishing, and no sign yet of weather which 

 would make it safe to stop our fires on the berth-deck 

 and in the cabin. A temperature of 32'' would be as 

 acceptable as possible, although it is the freezing point 

 of fresh water. This day commences with a tempera- 

 ture of minus 3.7"^, and though the wind blows from 

 E. S. E. all day, it gets no warmer than plus IT at 

 midnight. The weather is gloomy, depressing, and dis- 

 agreeable. Velocities ranging from ten to twenty- three 

 miles drive the snow from the face of the floe in clouds, 

 and other snow falling makes distant objects, say one 

 hundred yards, invisible. Here and there alongside 

 the ship a little white lump indicates that there is a 

 dog beneath it, and even the regular and irregular dog 

 fights are discontinued until the weather gets clearer 

 and friend can be distinguished from foe. I have in- 

 tended for some time to dwell upon the peculiarities of 

 our dogs, but each time the subject has seemed too 

 extensive for m}^ daily journal. Why they fight, how 

 they fight, and whom they fight, seem to be purely ab- 

 stract questions with them, so long as it is a fight. For 

 instance, dogs one and two will see dog three in a good 

 position, perhaps enjoying a meat can that has been 

 empty for months and has, of course, no nutriment. 

 As if by concerted plan one and two will spring on 

 three, roll him over, and seemingly tear him in pieces. 

 Fortunately the wool is so long and thick that an at- 

 tacking dog gets his mouth full of hair before his front 

 teeth reach the flesh, so no great damage is done gen- 

 erally. The vulnerable places are the ears and the 

 belly. I have seen an attacked dog run, and, lying on 



