438 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



a black pool here and there, but no leads, no channels, 

 no avenues of advance or retreat. 



August SOth, Monday. — Our foggy weather seems 

 to be ready for a change, for at ten this evening the 

 fog rolled away from overhead, leaving a clear blue sky 

 with a bright moon, and at midnight Jupiter and Alde- 

 baran were also in plain view, being the first time that 

 stars have been visible since last spring. As a thing to 

 be remembered in connection with the dispersing of the 

 fog, the temperature suddenly fell, and at midnight 

 stood at 26.4°, and this too with a S. E. wind. It would 

 seem that the water is disappearing to the southward, 

 and a flock of phalaropes flying to the southward to-day 

 would seem to indicate that the w^ater is disappearing 

 (if it ever existed) to the northward. What, then, is 

 there in store for us ? 



Poor old Snuffy, having reached such a condition that 

 it would be a mercy to kill him, was shot to-day. For 

 some days his head had swollen to an awful size, and he 

 had wasted away to a shadow. Lying on the ice, the 

 heat from his body had thawed away a hole, and he was 

 sinking gradually from view. No doubt, as far as his 

 usefulness was concerned, he might have been killed 

 months ago ; but I felt that even a dog was entitled 

 to his life as long as he could keep it in these unchari- 

 table regions. However, the poor brute is gone now. 

 His three companions. Prince, Tom, and Wolf, seemed 

 unable to comprehend his disappearance, for they gath- 

 ered around his old ice-hole in inquiring anxiety. But 

 only for a time. The natural though miserable regard 

 for self soon drew them to other things. What a life 

 this is, when the shooting of a dog so impresses me that 

 I give a dozen lines of my journal to its mention. 



Our little lakes and rivulets were covered with ice at 



