FORCE AND VELOCITY OF THE WIND. 383 



take leave of us. After some days of unsettled weather, 

 on the lOtli of December came an unsteady north wind, 

 alternating with drifting snow, now rising to a storm, 

 and now quite dying away. At the same time one could 

 hear the mighty roaring and howling of the water and 

 ice. From the 8th to the 15th it raged thus continually, 

 when the mean force of the wind was thirty miles an 

 hour. Without, little could be done ; and at noon, even 

 on deck, nothing could be distinctly seen without a lamp. 



On the 16th it began suddenly to rage from the north 

 so violently that in from three to four hours the " Robin- 

 son " had marked no less than sixty-three English miles. 

 And this was the begining of the worst and most lasting 

 storm experienced. On the evening of the 16th it abated 

 a little, so that the next morning we could with some 

 trouble return to observations on land ; but in the even- 

 ing the wind roared with redoubled fury. In the later 

 hours its speed was from sixty-five to sixty-seven English 

 miles, and that of the real storm of course much greater. 



It was Dr. Borgen who took these two readings at the 

 observatory ; and indeed that was no trifle. On land 

 he was once taken bodily up and thrown at least ten 

 paces forward, and not without great exertion did he 

 reach the guiding rope, and then on his way to the ship 

 he was lifted up several times and thrown aside. Our 

 greatest help, indeed our actual preservation in such 

 cases, was the row of ice-blocks with the rope stretched 

 along it; for while the heavy drifting snow hid every- 

 thing within a few paces, the rushing wind stopped the 

 play of the lungs, and seemed to paralyze the brain, and 

 all the attention and muscular power had to be directed 

 to the keeping of one's feet. Then it is almost impos- 



