230 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. Febrfabi 



We fancy that our eyesight is stronger than before the 

 winter commenced, but the presence of the moon will 

 prevent our deciding the question. 



' The beams and ceiling of the mess-deck are 

 becoming rather black from the lamps so constantly 

 burning. 



' February 1st. — At the monthly medical inspec- 

 tion to-day, with the exception of two of the crew, all 

 are reported to me as being in the best of health. The 

 two men who sleep nearest to the entrance hatchway 

 complain of the drip from the beams damping their 

 hammocks during the late cold weather. The remedy 

 was simply to change their sleeping-places. 



' To-day the ice formed this season measured fifty- 

 one inches in thickness. Since the freezing of the 

 sodden floe on the 22nd of October no increase or 

 decrease has taken place on the surface. I certainly 

 expected to have found the surface of the floe lowered 

 by evaporation, but such is not the case.' 



On the morning of the 2nd, at Floeberg Beach we 

 experienced a breeze from the N.N.W., force 6, which 

 lasted twenty-four hours. It was accompanied as usual 

 by a rising barometer, but strangely enough also by 

 a heavy fall of snow, and a rise in temperature up to 

 minus 7° instead of the usual fall. On the 3rd a 

 return S.S.W. wind blew for eight hours, the baro- 

 meter still rising, with a high thermometer. At Dis- 

 covery Bay a somewhat similar rise in temperature was 

 experienced, with a heavy fall of snow, but as usual 

 in that locality, with very little wind. 



After a short calm, on the morning of the 4th, a 

 very heavy gale from the northward set in, lasting at 



