518 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



then veered away and grew lighter, so we cannot be 

 said to have had a gale. 



To our unspeakable astonishment the lead line gave 

 fifty-seven fathoms, and a sticky mud at the bottom, 

 with a very rapid drift E. by S. Can it be possible that 

 we have left the Siberian shoals and are on the border 

 of a Polar Ocean ? I almost expected to see the ice 

 melt ! Our soundings were at ten A. m., and at 6.30 

 we established her position in 74° 59' and 171° 57' E., 

 a drift since yesterday morning of fourteen and seven 

 tenths miles S. 70° E. These occurrences make this a 

 noteworthy clay. Magnificent weather, sky absolutely 

 cloudless after nine a. m. 



February lQth, Wednesday. — Sunrise at 8.57, sun- 

 set at 3.05. The amount of sunlight we now get is 

 very charming after such a long spell of being without 

 it, and as our dawn light begins at six A. M. and lasts 

 until six p. m., we are able to see enough clay to make 

 the night less wearisome when it comes. At my end of 

 the mess-table we have had no artificial light at our 

 three o'clock dinner, and I smoke my after-dinner pipe 

 in a twilight that is conducive to enjoyable thinking. 

 Before the sun had been so long with us last year we 

 captured our first bear, but this year we have seen only 

 fox-tracks thus far. In this part of the world at this 

 season there can be no food for foxes, and they must 

 depend on what Bruin leaves them from the hunting of 

 seals. So as we see fox- tracks bears ought to be in 

 our neighborhood. 



February 17th, Thursday. — It is so long since we 

 have seen a cloud that we nearly forget what it is like. 

 A remarkable mirage prevailed all clay. The horizon 

 was raised all around like a solid wall resembling cliffs 

 of a sea-coast. The hummocks, of course, made this 



