222 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. JANUARt 



prevailing wind has been blowing, but on the table- 

 lands it has furrowed out numerous short, deep, and 

 irregular ruts from a few inches to two feet and more 

 in depth, leaving the surface like an agitated sea 

 suddenly frozen. The ridges which are left were partly 

 undermined by the recent winds and give way readily 

 beneath our feet ; they are sufficiently hard to support 

 snow-shoes, but if used these would snap with the 

 weight of the wearer when bridging over the troughs. 

 When proceeding in the direction of the sastrugi the 

 walking is tolerable enough, but otherwise it entails 

 very severe exertion, how severe may be inferred from 

 the fact, that when, after a hundred yards of rough 

 walking, a level patch of snow is met with, the same 

 amount of exertion that was previously necessary 

 carries us forward for a short distance at a run ; much 

 in the same manner as when arriving at the summit of 

 a hill, on crossing the brow we find ourselves for a 

 few moments speeding along faster than we naturally 

 would on the flat. The only extensive level snow- 

 floors are on the side slopes of the hills and at the 

 bottom of the valleys lying in the direction of the pre- 

 vailing wind ; there the snow is so hard that we can 

 walk at our ordinary speed. 



< \Qth. — The temperature has again fallen to minus 

 35°, accompanied as usual with calm, clear weather. 

 The twilight at noon extinguished all the stars' in the 

 Milky- Way, as well as those of less than the second 

 magnitude within twenty degrees of the horizon. The 

 tint in the sky has increased from a bright pearly green 

 to a faint yellow hue. The present small amount of 

 returning twilight enables us to discern how very dark 



