6/2 APPENDIX 



— 19°, while the thermometer outside showed only —6°. We 

 walked for some time backward and forward, and breathed 

 the warm air in deep draughts. It was beyond all description 

 pleasant to feel the mild wind caress one's cheek. Yes, there is 

 a great difference between living in such a temperature and 

 daily breathing an air 40° to 50° below freezing-point. Person- 

 ally, I am not very much incommoded by it, but many com- 

 plain that they feel a pain deep in the chest. I only find when 

 I have been taking a good deal of exercise that my mouth is 

 parched." 



The following day, F'ebruary 22d, it first blew from the 

 S.S.E., but later the wind changed to half a gale from the 

 west, with a velocity of 55 feet per second. The barometer 

 showed the lowest reading during the whole voyage up till 

 then — namely, 723.6 mm. The air was so full of drifting snow 

 that we could not see 6 feet from the ship, and the thermom- 

 eter-house out on the ice was in a few minutes so packed with 

 drift-snow that it was impossible to read off the instruments. 

 It was not very comfortable down in the saloon, as it was 

 impossible to create any draught. We made unsuccessful 

 attempts to light the stoves, but soon had to take the fire 

 away, to prevent suffocation by smoke. Sunday night the 

 storm abated, but on Monday and Tuesday there was again 

 half a gale, with snowfall and drift, and nearl}- 28 degrees 

 of frost. Not before Wednesday afternoon did the \\eather 

 improve in earnest ; it then cleared up, and the wind slackened 

 to 20 feet, so both we and the dogs could get out on the ice 

 and take a little exercise. The dogs wanted to get out of their 

 kennels in the morning, but even they found the weather too 

 bad, and slunk in again. 



We had a good many rough-weather days like this, not only 

 in the winter, but also in the summer ; but as a rule the rough 

 weather lasted only a day at a time, and did not involve any 

 great discomfort. On the contrary, we had no objection to a 

 little rough weather, especially when it was accompanied by a 

 fresh breeze that might drift the ice speedily westward. Of 

 course, what most interested us was the drifting and ex'crything 



