THE WINTER NIGHT 297 



ball crossed the sky in the west — giving a bluish-white 

 light, they said. Johansen ran down to the saloon to tell 

 Hansen and me ; he said they could still see the bright 

 trails it had left in its train. When we orot on deck we 

 saw a bent bow of light in the Triangle, near Deheb. 

 The meteor had disappeared in the neighborhood of 

 Epsilon Cygni (constellation Swan), but its light re- 

 mained for a long time floating in the air like glowing 

 •dust. No one had seen the actual fire-ball, as they had 

 all had their backs turned to it, and they could not say 

 if it had burst. This is the second orreat meteor of 



O 



exceptional splendor that has appeared to us in these 

 regions. The ice has a curious inclination to slacken, 

 without pressure having occurred, and every now and 

 then we find the ship floating in open water. This is 

 the case to-day. 



" Saturday, October 28th. Nothing of any impor- 

 tance. Moonshine night and day. A glow in the south 

 from the sun. 



" Sunday, October 29th. Peter shot a white fox this 

 morning close in to the ship. For some time lately we 

 have been seeing fox-tracks in the mornings, and one 

 Sunday Mogstad saw the fox itself. It has, no doubt, 

 been coming regularly to feed on the offal of the bears. 

 Shortly after the first one was shot another was seen ; it 

 ■came and smelt its dead comrade, but soon set off again 

 and disappeared. It is remarkable that there should be 

 so many foxes on this drift-ice so far from land. But, 



