224 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. January 



ship a " bear scare " is not uncommon ; but when we 

 consider how difficult it would be for these animals to 

 see or capture their prey in the darkness which enve- 

 lopes us, that there is no open water, and therefore 

 very few seals in our vicinity, we conclude that it is 

 almost beyond the range of probability that these 

 animals should wander in winter to our latitude. Still 

 there is no certainty in these matters, and few of us 

 are exempt from a momentary feeling of nervousness 

 as the returning light now and again discloses sud- 

 denly some previously unnoticed object. 



' The ship is now heeling over from two to three 

 degrees to port. As the tide rises and falls she is 

 pressed over by the tidal motion exerted on the thick 

 ice-hinge lying between us and the floeberg on the 

 starboard side, and by the weight of the snow bearing 

 down the ice on the port or inshore side. 



' The smokers complain greatly about their tobacco 

 pipes freezing. Unless the stem is very short it soon 

 becomes clogged with frozen tobacco juice which 

 defies all attempts to remove it by wires. 



'* When travelling a satisfactory smoke could only 

 be obtained in the morning, after the pipe had been 

 thawed near the body during the night. If lighted on 

 board the ship where the temperature keeps it thawed, 

 and then taken into the air, it becomes solidly frozen 

 before it is smoked out ; consequently very little 

 smoking goes on outside the ship. In addition to this 

 difficulty, the few who persevere in smoking with 

 shortened pipes, well covered, complain of shortness 

 of breath and a choking feeling. 



' 20th. — Mercury has been frozen all day. That 



