440 FARTHEST NORTH 



drifting masses of ice extend far and wide, ever towards 

 more southern shores, and no one notices it; but at last 

 all the seas of earth become one unbroken mass of ice. 

 Life has vanished from its surface, and is to be found in 

 the ocean depths alone. 



" But the temperature continues to fall, the ice grows 

 thicker and ever thicker ; life's domain vanishes. Millions 

 of years roll on, and the ice reaches the bottom. The 

 last trace of life has disappeared ; the earth is covered 

 with snow. All that we lived for is no longer; the fruit 

 of all our toil and sufferings has been blotted out millions 

 and millions of years ago, buried beneath a pall of snow. 

 A stiffened, lifeless mass of ice, this earth rolls on in her 

 path through eternity. Like a faintly growing disk the 

 sun crosses the sky ; the moon shines no more, and is 

 scarcely visible. Yet still, perhaps, the northern lights 

 flicker over the desert, icy plain, and still the stars 

 twinkle in silence, peacefully as of yore. Some have 

 burnt out, but new ones usurp their place ; and round 

 them revolve new spheres, teeming with new life, new 

 sufferings, without any aim Such is the infinite cycle of 

 eternity ; such are nature's everlasting rhythms. 



" Monday, April 30th. Drifting northward. Yester- 

 day observations gave 80" 42', and to-day 80° 44^. The 

 wind steady from the south and southeast. 



" It is lovely spring weather. One feels that spring- 

 time must have come, though the thermometer denies it. 

 ' Spring cleaning' has begun on board; the snow and ice 



