UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 359 



distance in that direction (or, in fact, upon mature de- 

 liberation, in any direction), than it could be dragged 

 across the house-tops of New York in an attempt to go 

 to Harlem from the Battery. Whether these reflec- 

 tions are going on in the minds of others I do not know, 

 for in any case they are not expressed, or any indica- 

 tion given of their being entertained. All our discus- 

 sions, or rather conversations, for we do not discuss, 

 include the ship as a prime factor in reducing any 

 Arctic equation to its simplest form. Our chief diffi- 

 culty of reduction lies in the fact that there are so 

 many unknown quantities. Excellent observations to- 

 day place the ship 73" 28' 19" N., and longitude 178' 

 51' 45" E., showing a drift of 2i miles N. 10° E. This 

 is curious, because we have had an almost steady south- 

 erly wind during the preceding twenty-four hours ; with 

 casting in any change from true S., in consequence, we 

 should have gone to the northward and westward, in- 

 stead of to the northward and eastward. It may be 

 that our field in passing along some heavier field (or, 

 perhaps, land) has been shunted off by the resistance 

 offered. Theory as to our movement is long since 

 abandoned in my mind, giving way to facts based on 

 experience. Theory may assert how we ought to drift, 

 but our position from day to day shows how we do 

 drift, and I accept the situation. 



May 20th, Thursday. — Oh for warm weather ! Onh^ 

 sixty tons of coal left, and the summer work yet to be 

 done, with reference to next winter's warming, and 

 pumping, and our cooking going on all the time. To 

 put out all fires with the present low temperature is 

 only to invite cold and sickness. To have come so far 

 and accomplished nothing is very trying. If our ship 

 were tight, all would be easier planned. But with an 



