ARCTIC CLOTHING. 405 



be seen in the eastern sky, and an hour later a faint 

 trace of daylight spread over the country. 



On the last of February, at three a.m., it began to 

 brighten in the north-east, and at four o'clock the dark- 

 ness disappeared; the temperature of the atmosphere 

 was - 13° Fahr. 



This degree of cold had reached a settled point, which 

 we had never as yet observed. Excepting stormy weather, 

 the temperature seldom rose above 13° Fahr., and sank 

 more than once below —27° and —31° Fahr. On the 

 evening of the 21st of February the thermometer reached 

 its lowest point with —40°, which, however, lasted but 

 one hour. This is exactly the stage at which quicksilver 

 begins to freeze ; but, unfortunately, we were not allowed 

 to witness this interesting phenomenon. 



A cold of more than — 26.50° in a calm was, moreover, 

 quite bearable, and we never found any evil effects pro- 

 duced by it. Here again we found that, in a still atmo- 

 sphere, the woollen clothing was best for keeping in the 

 warmth of the body ; whilst in a cold wind, even many 

 times double, it seemed as if we had no clothes on. Under 

 such circumstances, fur was the last resource. Also on the 

 throat and lungs the breathing of the coldest air seemed to 

 have no evil effect, just as when eating frozen things one 

 feels the cold deeper down. We could, coming straight from 

 the caboose, breathe with impunity, although the tempe- 

 rature of the air varied in one minute from 90° above, 

 to 40° below zero; that is a difference of 130 degrees, 

 and yet this is not the extreme by a long way. In 

 passing out from the heated dwellings of the Esqui- 

 maux, at 99.50° Fahr., into the cold air of — 58° Reaumur, 

 there is a difference of quite 157°, and this not only 



