616 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



open water, for I hardly believe that such a fog could 

 arise from ice openings daily. Towards midnight the 

 sun's power wanes, and the water begins to give off 

 heat slowly, which is condensed on being carried by 

 the wind over the cold ice, and is deposited or carried 

 along as fog, etc. Generally speaking, when we turn 

 out at six p. m. the sun is brightly shining, and when 

 we go to bed at nine A. m. is shining again. But be- 

 tween midnight and camping time it is foggy enough. 



After dinner, 1.50 A. M., we pushed ahead again. By 

 going in advance with Mr. Dunbar I managed to make 

 out a long route of one and a half miles, and termina- 

 ting in a good flat floe piece. But it required some 

 little bridging and considerable road-making and man- 

 aging-, and a roundabout road of about five miles. 

 However, we accomplished it with no other accident 

 than breaking one St. Michael's sled and springing a 

 cross bar of the first cutter's sled. While ferrying 

 across a lead with Mr. Dunbar this morning, we saw a 

 fish about four inches long dart out from a hole in the 

 ice, and as suddenly dart back again. During our sec- 

 ond summer we used frequently to see the same kind 

 of fish, and I wondered if they were young cod or 

 salmon. We never could catch one for a specimen. 

 This morning we also heard some wild geese calling to 

 each other, and a Ross gull was seen. This is the sec- 

 ond we have seen since the ship sank. Is this their 

 habitable part of the world ? On top of the old ice 

 which we have encountered w r e have met many pools 

 of water which seem to me to be the same kind as 

 those mentioned by Captain Nares, and from which the 

 Alert's people drank steadily. Seeing some of the^-e 

 pools freeze to-day at 32°, I imagined they might be 

 fresh water, but the doctor tested some with nitrate of 



