402 THE r.ETJMAN AECTIC EXPEDTTTON. 



shadows descended one after the other on the wintry 

 landscape. 



We mnst not forget to mention that the first re- 

 appearance of the sun was accompanied by two very 

 faint and not easily detected parhelia. What would most 

 strike a scientific mind was the wonderful prismatic 

 colours of the clouds, the easternmost of which, lying 

 towards that side of Walrus Island, rose above the very 

 highest of its peaks. It was peculiar that, however dis- 

 tinctly we could see these parhelia, a person looking 

 directly above another's head could not with all his en- 

 deavours perceive them. The air, which at seven a.m. 

 was this day —8.95°, cooled considerably later, and at 

 noon the thermometer fell to —22.67°. 



The new sunshine afforded us for the first time an 

 uninterrupted view over the icy sea. From Germania- 

 berg one could see how during this winter the ice had been 

 loosened almost close to the coast from Klein-Pendulum 

 to Flache Bay. To the extent of from one to three 

 nautical miles along the land lay the young ice, which 

 might be torn up by the first storm. Beyond lay the 

 pack-ice — a broad, unbounded, snow-covered mass, sepa- 

 rated, as far as the eye could reach, by neither fissure nor 

 interval. 



A few fine, bright days now followed one another with 

 a temperature of from —4° to —22° Fahr. We enjoyed 

 the light of the newly-risen sun. The twilight really 

 lengthened the days, and through the period of dark- 

 ness the Northern Lights shot atliAvart the heavens, 

 displaying in the clear atmosphere a spectacle of rai^e 

 beauty. But this peaceful scene could not last, and on 

 the 5th there were distinct signs of tlie waking of Boreas. 



