187.-. THE SHORTEST DAY. 209 



' The magnetometer has been disturbed slightly for 

 the last two days, but we have seen little or no appear- 

 ance of aurora. Probably the moonlight is too bright 

 to permit such faint auroras as we experience to display 

 themselves. 



' Yesterday our usual Thursday evening's gather- 

 ing was somewhat changed by Commander Mark- 

 ham appearing as the " Wizard of the North." His 

 having taken lessons in the art of legerdemain, and 

 provided himself with the necessary apparatus, had 

 been kept secret, and few of us knew who the wizard 

 was until the drop curtain was raised. All the frost- 

 bitten patients attended the entertainment. Their 

 recovery has been slow. With the exception of these 

 and the steward the doctor's hands have been free all 

 the winter. With the extremely dry atmosphere no 

 one complains of colds, coughs, or rheumatism. 



' 22nd. — The sun attained its most southern position 

 this morning, so our first winter is half over. Al- 

 though we are only 453 miles from the Pole, it is still 

 no misnomer to call this the shortest day, for at noon 

 there w r as an indistinct greenish tint brightening the 

 southern sky, and as there was a low bank of mist to 

 the northward the light was reflected across to that 

 side of the heavens. The twilight was sufficiently strong 

 to put out the stars forming the Milky Way within 

 thirty degrees of the north and south horizon, and only 

 allowed those overhead in the zenith to be faintly 

 distinguished. To escape completely beyond the 

 limit of twilight we must yet journey northward 

 one hundred and twenty miles before the sun sinks 

 eighteen degrees below the horizon, the measure by 



VOL. I. P 



