414 Reminiscences of 



pitchers in remote comers, and glazed them over with 

 its imprint. 



The night was a comfortable one, for a slight freezing 

 in one part of a room with a glowing fire in another part 

 carmot be otherwise than comfortable in a dry air, to a 

 well clad and well nourished mortal. Still the contrast 

 was striking between the blizzard of the night and 

 the still air of i8 degrees below in the morning. It 

 seemed hardly necessary to wrap up for snow-shoeing. 



I would account a still clear cold of 60 or 70 degrees 

 below zero to be far more comfortable than a gale 

 of wind having a velocity of twenty miles an hour 

 with the mercury at 15 or 20 degrees below zero. The 

 first could be endured very comfortably in an ordi- 

 narily well protected apartment before a glowing fire, 

 but the latter has a searching power, which insinu- 

 ates itself through the slightest crevices of the doors, 

 windows, and floors, and of penetrating, when one is 

 exposed to it, all the clothing one can put on. A mod- 

 erate head wind at zero is far more biting than still 

 cold at 30 degrees below. In fact no one but an Esqui- 

 mau or the exceptional man can endure the facing 

 of a gale at 20 degrees below zero, with any part of 

 his face exposed, for more than a few minutes, for the 

 white frosting will form on the skin almost imme- 

 diately, and with double veiling the eyelids will soon 

 glue together, and a glazing of ice will form over the 

 mouth and nostrils. The face would freeze so quickly 

 that one would hardly be aware of it, as it would be 

 comparatively painless. 



I was snow-shoeing in the afternoon before the 

 blizzard came on. 



The morning had opened 22 degrees above zero 



I 



