472 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



far as can be judged, promises to give us twenty-four 

 hours more. Although the temperature fell to minus 

 8°, it could not keep us from enjoying the bright sun 

 while it lasted, or the bright moonlight which almost 

 made sunset unappreciable. 



I have heretofore made several attempts to describe 

 the beauty of these Arctic winter nights, but have 

 found my powers too feeble to do the subject justice. 

 They must be seen to be appreciated. It is so hard to 

 make a descriptive picture of moon, stars, ice, and ship, 

 and unluckily photography cannot come into play in 

 this temperature to supply a real picture. Imagine a 

 moon nearly full, a cloudless sky, brilliant stars, a pure 

 white waste of snow-covered ice, which seems firm and 

 crisp under your feet, a ship standing out in bold relief, 

 every rope and thread plainly visible and enormously 

 enlarged by accumulations of fluffy and clown-like frost 

 feathers ; and you have a crude picture of the scene. 

 But to fill in and properly understand the situation, one 

 must experience the majestic and awful silence which 

 generally prevails on these occasions, and causes one to 

 feel how trifling and insignificant he is in comparison 

 with such grand works in nature. The brightness is 

 wonderful. The reflection of moonlight from brio-ht 

 ice-spots makes brilliant effects, and should a stray 

 piece of tin be near you it seems to have the light of a 

 dazzling gem. A window in the deck-house looks like 

 a calcium light when the moonlight strikes it at the 

 proper angle, and makes the feeble light from an oil 

 lamp within seem ridiculous when the angle is changed. 

 Standing one hundred yards away from the ship, one 

 has a scene of the grandest, wildest, and most awful 

 beauty. 



We have had other things to contemplate also. The 



