CHAPTER II 

 THE NEW YEAR, 1 895 



"Wednesday, January 2, 1S95. Never before have I 

 had such strange feelings at the commencement of the 

 new year. It cannot fail to bring some momentous 

 events, and will possibly become one of the most remark- 

 able years in my life, whether it leads me to success or to 

 destruction. Years come and go unnoticed in this world 

 of ice, and we have no more knowledge here of what 

 these years have brought to humanity than we know of 

 what the future ones have in store. In this silent nature 

 no events ever happen; all is shrouded in darkness; there 

 is nothing in view save the twinkling stars, immeasurably 

 far away in the freezing night, and the flickering sheen 

 of the aurora borealis, I can just discern close by the 

 vague outline of the Fraui, dimly standing out in the 

 desolate Sfloom, with her rio-Qrino- showino- dark ao-ainst 

 the host of stars. Like an infinitesimal speck, the vessel 

 seems lost amidst the boundless expanse of this realm 

 of death. Nevertheless, under her deck there is a snug 

 and cherished home for thirteen men undaunted by the 

 majesty of this realm. In there, life is freely pulsating, 



