1902] MID-WINTER DAY 255 



sympathetic friends who imagined the polar night to be filled 

 with gruesome horror, had they been permitted a glimpse of 

 this scene of revelry. 



' In the early hours we went out to cool our heated brows. 

 It was calm and clear, and the full moon, high in the heavens, 

 flooded the snow with its white, pure light ; overhead a myriad 

 stars irradiated the heavens, whilst the pale shafts of the 

 aurora australis grew and waned in the southern sky. It was 

 sacrilege to disturb a scene of such placid beauty, but for man 

 it was a night of frolic, and as the dogs quickly caught the 

 infection, the silence was soon broken by a chorus of shouts 

 and barking which was continued long after the bare ears and 

 fingers should have warned their possessors that the tempera- 

 ture was nearly into the minus thirties. Eventually even 

 exuberance of spirit was forced to give way to rapidly growing 

 frost-bites, and we retired within to contemplate, rather sadly, 

 our extremities swelling as they thawed. Clearly under no 

 conditions can one play tricks with our climate. 



1 We are half-way through our long winter. The sun is 

 circling at its lowest ; each day will bring it nearer our horizon. 

 The night is at its blackest ; each day will lengthen the pale 

 noon twilight. Until now the black shadow has been 

 descending on us ; after this, day by day, it will rise until the 

 great orb looms above our northern horizon to guide our 

 footsteps over the great trackless wastes of snow. If the 

 light-hearted scenes of to-day can end the first period of 

 our captivity, what room for doubt is there that we shall 

 triumphantly weather the whole term with the same general 

 happiness and contentment ? ' 



