450 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



roundiiigs at a distance of one hundred feet were as 

 invisible as if they were in another world. Drifts into 

 which one might flounder to his waist were as common 

 as water holes used to be a month ago ; and between 

 them bare places of ice, worn as smooth as glass by the 

 friction of the snow blast, caused heels to fly up without 

 warning or avoidance. Looking to windward was a 

 sheer impossibility. Even the clogs, usually so indiffer- 

 ent to weather, were cowed, and after vainly seeking 

 for a shelter under the ship's side, or to leeward of a 

 barrel, fairly gave it up, and lay down in disgust to be 

 snowed in. Mounds here and there showed for a time 

 where a dog was buried, but after a while these became 

 so indistinguishable that it w r as only when somebody fell 

 into or over them, and caused a smothered howl from 

 the dog beneath, that the dog's presence was betrayed. 

 All fighting was suspended by unanimous consent. We 

 human beings remained carefully housed. We stood 

 the cold until noon, when I directed fires to be lighted 

 on the berth deck and in the cabin, and, seeing no let 

 up in the severity of the temperature, continued them 

 during the night. Temperature, maximum, 19.5° ; 

 minimum, 9.5°. We are having an early start to our 

 cold weather this year, and though we are sufficiently 

 seasoned to go without fire as long as the air outside 

 remains above 20°, we are a little chilly when it gets 

 below it. 40° seems to be the turning point inside the 

 cabin. At 40° or over we are comfortable, but at 39° 

 we commence to feel chilly. While the open, air is 20° 

 or so, we seem to generate heat enough to keep the 

 cabin at 40° by our personal radiation, and at 43° or so, 

 and even 46°, when the lamps are lighted at night. But 

 otherwise we fall short of the requirements of comfort. 

 No carpenter work being possible, we employ the men 



