THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1894 513 



needful for a brilliant retreat. Sometimes I seem almost 

 to be longing for a defeat — a decisive one — so that we 

 might have a chance of showing what is in us, and put- 

 ting an end to this irksome inactivity. 



" Monday, July 30th. Westerly wind, with north- 

 westerly by way of a pleasant variety ; such is our daily 

 fare week after week. On coming up in the morning I 

 no longer care to look at the weathercock on the mast- 

 head, or at the line in the w^ater; for I know beforehand 

 that the former points east or southeast, and the line in 

 the contrary direction, and that we are ever bearing to 

 the southeast. Yesterday it was 81° 7' north latitude, 

 the day before 81^ 11', and last Monday, July 25th, 81" 26'. 



" But it occupies my thoughts no longer. I know well 

 enough there will be a change some time or other, and 

 the way to the stars leads through adversity. I have 

 found a new world ; and that is the world of animal and 

 plant life that exists in almost every fresh-water pool on 

 the ice-floes. From morning till evening and till late in 

 the night I am absorbed with the microscope, and see 

 nothing around me. I live with these tiny beings in their 

 separate universe, where they are born and die, generation 

 after generation; where they pursue each other in the 

 struggle for life, and carry on their love affairs with the 

 same feelings, the same sufferings, and the same joys that 

 permeate every living being from these microscopic ani- 

 malcules up to man — self-preservation and propagation — 



that is the whole story. Fiercely as we human beings 

 33 



