CONTINUED VOYAGE OF THE TWO SHIPS. 49 



wonderful sight of tlie midnight sun. The thick clouds, 

 which the whole day had covered the heavens, drew 

 somewhat together towards the north just at that time ; 

 and over the edge of the endless sea, hovered the sun, 

 like a red ball, visible almost in its entire circumference, 

 surrounded by gold and purple- violet clouds. But unfor- 

 tunately this majestic spectacle was of short duration; 

 the cloudy curtain closed again, and we had to wait 

 many weeks before we again saw the midjiight sun. 



The temperature of the air fell steadily. From the 6th 

 to the 7th of July there was a sudden fall, as shown by 

 our table of daily temperatures. 



This was accompanied, on the 7th of July, by snoio, 

 and on the 8th the fog began its rule of terror, from 

 which we suffered, except at short intervals, for four 

 weeks, that is, until we landed.^ 



The swarms of birds were countless, and at a glance 

 we could see that those frequenting the icy sea were quite 

 different from any other sorts. There were the well- 

 known Auk,^ and other aquatic species of various genera.^ 

 But there was no possibility of exactly knowing each kind, 

 as we did not succeed in bringing any down ; and only 

 seeing them in the distance in their hurried flight and 

 the dim atmosphere, they were very difficult to distin- 

 guish. They generally flew from two to four together ; 

 sometimes one would strike out with a short flap of the 

 wings, and fly at a uniform height over the smooth water, 



* From the lOtli of July to the 1st of August we registered 368 liours 

 of fog, being seven-tenths of the wliole time- 



* A lea torda, L. 



» Uria Briinnichii, Sab. ; Uria grylle, L. ; Mormon fratercula, Temm. ; 

 and Mergulus alle, Viell. 



