178 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. October 



able, and for a long time presented anything but a 

 tidy appearance. Some of the officers also constructed 

 smaller snow-houses in which they stored their super- 

 fluous gear, thus giving themselves more space in their 

 cabins. 



The floebergs forced on shore in our neighbourhood 

 were as a rule solid masses of sea-water ice; but 

 in one large one a cave three feet high and six 

 deep was left, hollowed out of the side below the 

 former line of flotation. Long after the temperature 

 had fallen below the freezing point of salt water, icicles 

 continued to form, hanging from the roof of the cave. 

 These increased in size and length and continued to 

 drip-while the temperature remained above minus 15°. 

 The brine appeared to percolate downwards through 

 the seemingly solid ice, and while a somewhat purer 

 portion became frozen and formed the icicle, the salt- 

 est part of the liquid continued to drip from the end. 

 When the temperature fell to minus 19° even the saltest 

 part became solid. Throughout the winter whenever a 

 rise in temperature above minus 1 9° was experienced, 

 these icicles commenced to drip, and to contract in size 

 as the increasing warmth of the atmosphere melted the 

 purer ice in the middle. The size and degree of salt- 

 ness of the icicles thus varied as the temperature of the 

 air rose or fell. 



As the season advanced and the temperature de- 

 creased, the usual troubles of Arctic ships were experi- 

 enced. The descending cold draughts through the 

 stove funnels increasing, caused them to smoke badly 

 and necessitated the removal of the long horizontal 

 parts which were led under the deck beams for the 



