A FROZEN SUMMER. 439 



midnight, and a white frost was deposited on all instru- 

 ments at the observatory. 



August 31st, Tuesday. — The last day of summer has 

 come and gone, and, so far as our release is concerned, 

 we are apparentl}^ no better off than we were on the 

 first day of summer. A cheerful fall of temperature 

 occurred during the night, and in consequence we find 

 ice three quarters of an inch thick over all our ponds 

 this morning. Three quarters of an inch does not seem 

 like much in the abstract, but it was more than we could 

 push, pull, or scull a boat through without cutting it 

 ahead with an ice-chisel, and Melville and I who tried 

 to do so are not the weakest of men. On the other 

 hand, we had a remarkably high temperature in the 

 middle of the day (35° to 37°), an almost cloudless sky, 

 — in fine, a heavenly state of weather for these re- 

 gions. 



So bright was the sun that it was a pleasure to take 

 sights. Excellent observations place us in latitude 73° 

 46' N., longitude 176° 48' 45'' W., showing a drift since 

 the 29th of eight and one half miles to N. 53° E. The 

 magnetic variation is 22° 4' E. A reference to my drift- 

 table shows that we have drifted this month altogether 

 ninety-two and one half miles, and have made good 

 fifty and one half miles to N. 51° E. Of all months 

 in the year this month should give the slackest condi- 

 tion of the ice, and yet we have changed our position 

 but little. 



As if additional evidence that summer is gone, the 

 aurora made its first reappearance after many days. 

 At 11.15 p. M. a faint, tremulous arch could be seen 

 passing from east through the zenith to west, and at 

 midnight pulsating curtain patches moved from west to 

 east, at an altitude of about 20° above the southern 



