THE WINTER NIGHT 353 



Arctic navigators. We have not so much as made the 

 smallest preparation for possible accident, no provisions 

 on deck, no tent, no clothing in readiness. This may 

 seem like recklessness, but in reality there is not the 

 slightest prospect of the pressure harming us; we know 

 now what the Frain can bear. Proud of our splendid, 

 strong ship, we stand on her deck watching the ice come 

 hurtling against her sides, being crushed and broken 

 there and havino^ to 2:0 down below her, while new ice- 

 masses tumble upon her out of the dark, to meet the 

 same fate. Here and there, amid deafening noise, some 

 great mass rises up and launches itself threateningly 

 upon the bulwarks, only to sink down suddenly, drag- 

 ged the same way as the others. But at times when 

 one hears the roaring of tremendous pressure in the 

 night, as a rule so deathly still, one cannot but call to 

 mind the disasters that this uncontrollable power has 

 wrought. 



" I am reading the story of Kane's expedition just 

 now. Unfortunate man, his preparations were misera- 

 bly inadequate ; it seems to me to have been a reckless, 

 unjustifiable proceeding to set out with such equip- 

 ments. Almost all the dogs died of bad food ; all the 

 men had scurvy from the same cause, with snow-blind- 

 ness, frost-bites, and all kinds of miseries. He learned a 

 wholesome awe of the Arctic night, and one can hardl}^ 

 wonder at it. He writes on page 173: 'I feel that we 

 are fighting the battle of life at disadvantage, and that 



