106 
COLD SUNSHINE. 
sation for the eight months of constant freezing that 
fill up the year. Our thermometers to-day fell to 28°; 
our mean for the entire twenty-four hours was but 32° 
9', not quite a degree above the freezing point. 
August 2. 'Warping!' Tired of the very word! 
About 2 P.M. a lead, less obstructed than its fellows, 
enabled us to crowd on the canvas, and sail with gen- 
tle airs for about two miles to the eastward, and then, 
losing what little wind we had, we tied up again to 
our friend the land ice ; the little Rescue, as usual, a 
few yards astern. 
"We have learned to love the sunshine, though we 
have lost the night that gives it value to others. It 
comes back to us this evening, after the gale, with a 
circuit of sparkling and imaginative beauty, like the 
spangled petticoat of a ballet-dancer in full twirl to a 
boy on his first visit to the opera. I borrow the com- 
parison from one of my mess-mates ; but, in truth, all 
this about sunshine and warmth is only compara- 
tive at the best, for, though writing on deck, ' out of 
doors,' as they say at home, the thermometers give us 
but 43°;' 
BENAIKS OF A. BERQ. 
