SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 5^1 



" Thursday, October i8th, I continue taking the tem- 

 peratures of the water, rather a cool amusement with the 

 thermometer down to --29° C. (20.2° Fahr. below zero) 

 and a wind blowing. Your fingers are apt to get a little 

 stiff and numb w^hen you have to manipulate the wet or 

 ice -covered metal screws with bare hands and have to 

 read off the thermometer with a magnifying -glass in 

 order to insure accuracy to the hundredth part of a de- 

 gree, and then to bottle the samples of water, which you 

 have to keep close against your breast, to prevent the 

 water from freezinsf. It is a nice business ! 



" There was a lovely aurora borealis at 8 o'clock this 

 evening. It wound itself like a fiery serpent in a double 

 coil across the sky. The tail was about 10° above the 

 horizon in the north. Thence it turned off with many 

 windings in an easterly direction, then round again, and 

 westward in the form of an arch from 30° to 40' above 

 the horizon, sinking down again to the west and rolling 

 itself up into a ball, from which several branches spread 

 out over the sky. The arches were in active motion, 

 while pencils of streamers shot out swiftly from the west 

 towards the east, and the whole serpent kept incessantly 

 undulating into fresh curves. Gradually it mounted up 

 over the sky nearly to the zenith, while at the same time 

 the uppermost bend or arch separated into several fainter 

 undulations, the ball in the northeast glowed intensely, 

 and brilliant streamers shot upwards to the zenith from 

 several places in the arches, especially from the ball and 



