A FROZEN SUMMER. 415 



ing of the snow and ice, and, of course, we cannot say 

 how long they may have remained there or how they 

 came there originally. In the absence of facts, theories 

 are as various as they are incongruous ; in the Arctic 

 Ocean shells may be ascribed to drift, to being brought 

 up from the bottom by turning floes, or to being re- 

 jected by walruses m feeding. Any one will do to talk 

 about to fill in an hour, of which, alas, we have too 

 many idle ones. 



August od, Tuesday. — No observations were possi- 

 ble to-day, for which I am very sorry, because I want 

 to trace our progress this month very minutely. A cu- 

 rious occurrence is worthy of mention. Between five 

 and eight p. m. a strong odor of burning brush-wood 

 filled the air, and was noticed by everybod}^ but myself, 

 who, having a cold in the head, had no sense of smell ; 

 from six to ten p. m. a decided haze was apparent, but 

 whether the haze and the odor of burning brush-wood 

 can be connected in any way or not remains to be in- 

 vestigated hereafter. Nothing seems to come of the 

 ice opening mentioned yesterday, and the ice in general 

 seems to be compact again in all directions. 



August ith, Wednesday. — One more day come and 

 gone, and nothing accomplished. This is becoming 

 gloomy, indeed. Are we never to get the ship free 

 again ? Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, and our 

 hope is surely deferred long enough. This is the month 

 in which I expected to do something, no matter how 

 little, and here we are, held as fast as we were in March. 



August 5th, Thursday. — Last night at midnight we 

 ended a meteorological year of hourly observations, 

 and, as a relief to all hands in making them, I ordered 

 hereafter three-hourly readings of the instruments in- 

 stead of hourly. 



