THE COLD. 
803 
" Oar Arctic theatre gave us to-night ' The Myste- 
ries and Miseries of New York,' followed by a panto- 
mime. The sitting temperature was — 20° ; that out- 
side, -86° ; behind the scenes, -25°. A flat-iron used 
by the delicate Miss Jem Smith gave the novel the- 
atrical effect of burning by cold. Poor Jem suffered 
so much in her bare sleeves and hands, that whenever 
the iron touched she winced. Cold merriment ; but 
it concluded with hotchpot and songs. 
February 15, Saturday. Another glorious day; the 
sun visible from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M., and embanked dur- 
ing the remaining time. Much to our surprise, at the 
moment of setting, a startling ridge of mountain peaks 
rose into sight to the westward. Their distance, as es- 
timated by the latest charts, was no less than 76 miles. 
^'February 22, Saturday. ' Some things can be done 
as well as others :' so at least Sam Patch said, when 
he scrambled up after his jump at Niagara. I walked 
myself into a comfortable perspiration this morning, 
with the thermometer at -42°, seventy-four degrees 
below the freezing point. My walk was a long one. 
When about three miles from the brig, a breeze sprang 
up : it was very gentle ; but instantly the sensation 
came upon me of intense cold. My beard, coated be- 
fore with massive icicles, seemed to bristle with in- 
creased stiffness. Henri, who walked ahead, began 
to suffer : his nose was tallow white. Before we had 
rubbed it into circulation, my own was in the same 
condition; and an unfortunate hole in the back of my 
mitten stung like a burning coal. We are so accus- 
tomed to cold that I did not suffer during our walk 
back, though it was more than an hour of hummock 
crossing. 
" The sensation most unendurable of these extreme- 
