320 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. May 



' Snow-buntings in their summer plumage and a 

 lemming with his summer dark fur were obtained 

 to-day. 



' 23rd. — The temperature of the sea- water has 

 risen to 29°, both at the surface and at a depth of 

 five fathoms. This is a rise of half a degree since the 

 winter and before the temperature of the air has risen 

 to anything like the same degree. It is an interesting 

 problem whence comes the warmth unless by an ocean 

 current. 



' In digging a hole in the ice in order to measure its 

 thickness it was found to be saturated with water, which 

 drained into the hole as it does through the earth 

 into a well. During the cold weather the ice was 

 perfectly dry. 



' When the temperature of the air was 16° a thermo- 

 meter buried 18 inches in a floeberg registered 11° ; a 

 lower temperature than that of the air for the last three 

 or four days. From this we may reason that while an 

 ordinary piece of ice seven or eight feet thick becomes 

 saturated with water and readily melts, a floe eighty 

 feet thick retains its cold temperature and remains 

 free from water for a long time. I very much regret 

 the long glacier thermometer having been broken 

 through the freezing of the mercury during the cold 

 season, otherwise an important series of observations 

 might have been obtained. 



1 24:th. — Her Majesty's birth-day : dressed the ship 

 with flags, but I trust we shall be forgiven for putting 

 off the general holiday for a more opportune season. 



'Lieutenant GifFard and his sledge crew re- 

 turned on board from placing Lieutenant Aldrich's 



