558 FARTHEST NORTH 



I did not see it because of banks of cloud in the south ; 

 but it still sent its light up over the pale sky. There the 

 full moon is now reigning, bathing the great ice plain and 

 the driftino- snow in its briorht lio^ht. How a nioht such 

 as this raises one's thoughts! It does not matter if one 

 has seen the like a thousand times before; it makes the 

 same solemn impression when it comes again ; one can- 

 not free one's mind from its power. It is like entering a 

 still, holy temple, where the spirit of nature hovers through 

 the place on glittering silver beams, and the soul must 

 fall down and adore — adore the infinity of the universe. 



" Wednesday, October 1 7th. We are employed in 

 taking deep-water temperatures. It is a doubtful 

 pleasure at this time of year. Sometimes the water- 

 lifter orets coated with ice, so that it will not close 

 clown below in the water, and has, therefore, to hang for 

 ever so long each time ; and sometimes it freezes tight 

 during the observation after it is brought up, so that the 

 water will not run out of it into the sample bottles, not 

 to mention all the bother there is getting the apparatus 

 ready to lower. We are lucky if we do not require to 

 take the whole thing into the galley every time to thaw 

 it. It is slow work ; the temperatures have sometimes 

 to be read by lantern light. The water samples are not 

 so reliable, because they freeze in the lifter. But the 

 thing can be done, and we must just go on doing it. 

 The same easterly wind is blowing, and we are drifting 

 onward. Our latitude this evening is about 81 " 47' N. 



