THE WINTER NIGHT 265 



— 14° C. I have worked all clay at soundings and got 

 to about Soo fathoms depth. The bottom samples con- 

 sisted of a layer of gray clay 4 to 4^ inches thick, and 

 below that brown clay or mud. The temperature was, 

 strangely enough, just above freezing-point ( + o.iS° C.) 

 at the bottom, and just below freezing-point ( — 0.4° C.) 

 75 fathoms up. This rather disposes of the story of a 

 shallow polar basin and of the extreme coldness of the 

 water of the Arctic Ocean. 



" While we were hauling up the line in the afternoon 

 the ice cracked a little astern of the Fram, and the 

 crack increased in breadth so quickly that three of us, 

 who had to 2;o out to save the ice-anchors, were oblis^ed 

 to make a bridge over it with a long board to get back to 

 the ship again. Later in the evening there was some 

 packing in the ice, and several new passages opened out 

 behind this first one. 



" Thursday, October 5th. As I w^as dressing this 

 morning, just before breakfast, the mate rushed down to 

 tell me a bear was in sight. I was soon on deck and 

 saw him coming from the south, to the lee of us. He 

 was still a good way off, but stopped and looked about. 

 Presently he lay down, and Henriksen and I started off 

 across the ice, and were lucky enough to send a bullet 

 into his breast at about 310 yards, just as he was mov- 

 ing off. 



"We are making everything snug for the winter and 

 for the ice - pressure. This afternoon we took up the 



