238 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [May 



during the storm, preferring to coil themselves down outside, 

 where they could break out when the weight of snow got too 

 great. 



^ May 5. — We still have some wind from the eastward, but 

 curiously the temperature has gone up to +5'', so that it is 

 positively enjoyable to walk about outside. The storm has 

 buried the ice in the bay by about three feet on an average, 

 though the snow is very much deeper about the ship and close 

 to the ice-foot. It is strange that we had little or no warning 

 of this gale from the barometer, though the pressure fell during 

 the blow. Bernacchi found exceptionally high electrometer 

 readings as much as twelve hours before the wind came on ; 

 one wonders whether this instrument can be rehed on to give 

 warning of a blow — it would seem not altogether improbable. 

 The dogs have now got over their recent unclothed state and 

 have grown very thick, shaggy coats.' 



Except when we said farewell to our winter quarters, I do 

 not think we ever had quite so heavy or so prolonged a gale 

 as that which has just been described. The wind swung 

 round also in a manner which gave all the indication of a re- 

 volving storm whose centre had narrowly missed us, and the 

 gale was followed by a result which we did not experience 

 again, or at least only to a much smaller extent. The tem- 

 perature remained extraordinarily high for several days after 

 the storm ; on one occasion it rose to -f 17°, and it was not 

 until the 9th that it fell again below zero, and then it fell 

 rapidly. On other occasions the temperature rose regularly 

 with a southerly wind, but fell when the wind dropped or 

 changed direction. The whole subject of this astonishing and 

 inexplicable wave of warm air is so interesting that it is well to 

 remember that the conditions under which it occurred were 

 not always precisely the same. With the warm air on this 

 occasion came a comparatively high degree of evaporation; 

 the drifts about the ship diminished rapidly as the snow settled 

 down and packed, and we could observe for the first time 

 some of the extraordinary conditions under which packed snow- 

 crystals adhere. 



