NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 113 



time during our detention among the natives, and 

 especially during the coldest of the weather, or 

 during the long night of polar darkness. When 

 the thermometer, during the depth of winter, 

 would doubtless have indicated scores of degrees 

 less than zero, we rarely ventured forth out of the 

 huts. But far otherwise with the natives. They 

 would go out and travel from settlement to set- 

 tlement, even in the coldest weather. At times, 

 however, they would return from their winter ex- 

 cursions somewhat frost-bitten. We also be- 

 came, in a measure, accustomed to the intense 

 cold, and being clothed in the garments of the 

 natives, consisting wholly of skins and furs, we 

 could endure a great degree of cold. 



If there was any outward relief to be found to 

 our minds during the long nights of the arctic, 

 and the entire absence of the sun for several 

 weeks, it consisted in the peculiar and uncom- 

 mon brilliancy which marked the course of the 

 moon in those clear skies. 



Nor was this all. The aurora borealis there 

 is seen in all its native beauty and grandeur. It 

 illumined the sky with a light but little inferior 

 to that of moonlight. It would from time to 

 time shoot up and spread itself over the whole 

 northern horizon, and with its sparkling scintilla- 

 tions and brightly-colored coruscations, it would 

 8 



