SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 5^5 



little while ago you were gambolling around, enjoying an 

 innocent romp with your brothers and sisters; then came 

 the thigh-bone of a bear trundlino^ alono- the deck from 

 the galley ; you and the others made a headlong rush for 

 it, and now there you lie, cruelly lacerated and dead as a 

 herring. Fate is inexorable ! 



"Sunday, October 31st. North latitude 82° 0.2'; east 

 longitude 114° 9'. It is late in the evening, and my 

 head is bewildered, as if I had been indulging in a reg- 

 ular debauch, but it was a debauch of a very innocent 

 nature. 



" A grand banquet to-day to celebrate the eighty- 

 second degree of latitude. The observation gave 82° 

 0.2' last night, and we have now certainly drifted a little 

 farther north. Honey-cakes (gingerbread) were baked 

 for the occasion first-class honey -cakes, too, you may 

 take my word for it; and then, after a refreshing snow- 

 shoe run, came a festal banquet. Notices were stuck up 

 in the saloon requesting the guests to be punctual at 

 dinner-time, for the cook had exerted himself to the 

 utmost of his power. The following deeply felt lines by 

 an anonymous poet also appeared on a placard : 



"'When dinner is punctually served at the time. 

 No fear that the milk soup will surely be prime; 

 But the viands are spoiled if you come to it late, 

 The fish-pudding will lie on your chest a dead weight; 

 What's preserv^ed in tin cases, there can be no doubt, 

 If you wait long enough will force its way out, 

 Even meat of the ox, of the sheep, or of swine. 

 Very different in this from the juice of the vine ! 



