THE WINTER NIGHT 363 



son of us, the bloodthirsty clog, with supreme contempt for 

 all the outcry against vivisection. Hansen and his assist- 

 ant take observations. The meteorological ones, which 

 are taken every four hours, are Johansen's special depart- 

 ment. First he reads the thermometer, hygrometer, and 

 thermograph on deck (they were afterwards kept on the 

 ice) ; next the barometer, barograph, and thermometer 

 in the saloon ; and then the minimum and maximum 

 thermometers in the crow's-nest (this to take the record 

 of the temperature of a higher air stratum). Then he 

 goes to read the thermometers that are kept on the ice to 

 measure the radiations from its surface, and perhaps 

 down to the hold, too, to see what the temperature is 

 there. Every second day, as a rule, astronomical obser- 

 vations are taken, to decide our whereabouts and keep 

 us up to date in the crab's progress we are making. Tak- 

 ing these observations with the thermometer between 22° 

 Fahr. and 40^ Fahr. below zero ( — 30° C. to —40° C.) is a 

 very mixed pleasure. Standing still on deck working 

 with these fine instruments, and screwing in metal screws 

 with one's bare fingers, is not altogether agreeable. It 

 often happens that they must slap their arms about and 

 tramp hard up and down the deck. They are received with 

 shouts of laughter when they reappear in the saloon after 

 the performance of one of these thundering nigger break- 

 downs above our heads that has shaken the whole ship. 

 We ask innocently if it was cold on deck. ' Not the 

 very least,' says Hansen; 'just a pleasant temperature.' 



