1902] CURIOUS PHENOMENA 273 



dies away another animal takes it up, and then another and 

 another, until the hills re-echo with the same unutterably 

 dreary plaint. There is no undue haste and no snapping or 

 snarling, which makes it very evident that this is a solemn 

 function, some sacred rite which must be performed in these 

 circumstances. If one is sentimentally inclined, as may be 

 forgiven on such a night, this chorus almost seems to possess 

 the woes of the ages ; as an accompaniment to the vast 

 desolation without, it touches the lowest depths of sadness. 



1 But if one is not sentimentally inclined, and rather bent 

 on refreshing sleep, it possesses so little charm that one 

 endeavours to correct matters by shouts and pieces of ice. As 

 a rule the animals are so absorbed in their occupation and so 

 lost to their surroundings that even these monitions have no 

 power to disturb them, and one has at length to bribe them 

 basely with a biscuit or a piece of seal-meat. 



1 Generally in calm, bright weather, the temperature is low, 

 and to night, when the thermometer stood below — 40 , we 

 observed a curious fact which I do not remember to have seen 

 mentioned before. If one is standing still and bareheaded, 

 and exhales a deep breath, one can actually hear one's breath 

 freezing a moment or two after it has left the mouth. What 

 one hears I do not precisely know, unless the actual formation 

 of ice-crystals produces a sound, as appears to be the case. 

 The sound itself is not easy to describe ; it is rather like that 

 produced by the movement of sand on a beach when a wave 

 washes up. Koettlitz says it is like the minutest crepitations, 

 and though few of us knew what the word meant till we con- 

 sulted the dictionary, we have adopted his description. 



1 A curious effect of the cold snaps is a mist which arises 

 off the land, very thin and very white, and in the silvery moon- 

 light beautiful beyond description. It spreads like the finest 

 gauze- web over the sharp outlines of the near hills ; the white 

 snow-slopes and dark shadows of the rocks are softened in its 

 shimmering folds, and seem to rest on the lightest foundations 

 of silvery cloud.' 



1 August 4. — . . . The driving snow has again enveloped 



VOL. I. T 



