174 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. October 



CHAPTER IX. 



PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER DOG-SICKNESS — SNOW-HOUSES VENTI- 

 LATION OF ARCTIC SHIPS ARCTIC CLOTHING — ASTRONOMICAL 



OBSERVATIONS — FIRE-HOLE — AURORA — THE MOON — THE ' LADIES' 

 MILE ' — ROYAL ARCTIC THEATRE — PARASELENA — ARCTIC DARKNESS 

 — HIGH TEMPERATURE — CHRISTMAS — END OF THE TEAR. 



The sun having bidden us farewell, our preparations 

 for the long winter were actively pushed forward. The 

 pack-ice outside of our barrier of floebergs still con- 

 tinued in motion, indicating that the ice in Eobeson 

 Channel was unfit for travelling on. I was therefore 

 most reluctantly compelled to give up all hope of 

 communicating with Captain Stephenson at Discovery 

 Bay until the following spring. I accordingly informed 

 Lieutenant Eawson and his sledge crew that they were 

 to pass the winter on board of the ' Alert ' instead of 

 returning to their own ship. Having left the ' Dis- 

 covery ' with the belief that they would only be absent 

 from her for .a few days, they were unprovided with 

 winter clothing, but the articles I was unable to 

 provide out of the ship's stores were readily made up 

 to them by the liberality of their companions, and they 

 passed as comfortable and happy a winter as any on 

 board our ship. 



With the exception of the cases of frost-bite the 



