54 THE ZOOLOGIS'I. 
26th.—This has been a very dark day. At noon the title-page 
of my text book, ‘Darwin’s Voyage,’ quite indistinguishable. 
29th.—Distinctly lighter at noon to-day. People could be 
detected when moving, up to a distance of fifty paces. 
30th.._We let Buchanan’s water apparatus down the fire-hole 
to a depth of thirty-six feet; the temperature of the water was 
+ 282° F. For about a foot in depth from the surface of the 
fire-hole, even immediately after the ice has been removed, which is 
done every few hours, the water is found to be in a pasty semi- 
congealed state, and a person dipping a vessel by hand into this 
will dish up nothing but ice. We have, therefore, adopted the 
following simple arrangement to procure water:—To the bottom 
of a staff six or seven feet long a bottle, well corked, neck 
uppermost, is lashed; a string being attached to the cork, the 
staff and bottle being pushed perpendicularly down the fire-hole, 
the cork is withdrawn and the bottle fills. No time has to be lost 
in hurrying below deck with the bottle, for if allowed to freeze, 
which it does almost immediately, there is a liability of the bottle 
bursting. It will hardly be believed, what a difficult and painful 
task this daily procuring of sufficient water from the fire-hole for 
microscopic investigation has been for Dr. Moss and myself.” 
The new-year of 1876 was entered on under most favourable 
auspices; the health of the crew was in all respects satisfactory, 
and our frost-bitten comrades had nearly recovered. We certainly 
had every reason to be thankful and contented; our winter 
quarters, though completely exposed, and adopted more from 
necessity than selection, had so far proved safe and convenient. 
The ice that had formed inshore had now attained sufficient 
thickness to lead us to hope that, in the event of a gale moving 
our protecting wall of floe-bergs nearer the shore, the ship might 
rise on the newly-formed ice, and thus save herself from being 
cast on the land. This chance of being stranded was the evil we 
had most to dread. 
A period of two months had to elapse before the reappearance 
of the sun, and up to that date I had very little hope of being 
able to effect anything in my special branch. It must not be 
supposed, however, that time ever hung heavily; meteorological, 
tidal, and other physical observations had to be constantly 
attended to; a certain number of hours outdoor exercise was 
