THE SOLSTICE. 
267 
appetite was almost ludicrously changed : ham-fat fro- 
zen, and saur-kraut swimming in olive-oil were favor- 
ites I yet we were unconscious of any tendency to- 
ward the gross diet of the Polar region. Most of my 
companions would not touch bear ; indeed, 1 was the 
only one, except Captain De Haven, that still ate it. 
Fox, on the other hand, was a favorite. Things seem- 
ed to have changed their taste, and our inclination for 
food was at best very slight. 
Worse than this, our complete solitude, combined 
with permanent darkness, began to affect our morale. 
Men became moping, testy, and imaginative. In the 
morning, dreams of the night — we could not help 
using the term — were narrated. Some had visited the 
naked shores of Cape Warrender, and returned laden 
with water-melons. Others had found Sir J ohn F rank- 
lin in a beautiful cove, lined by quintas and orange- 
trees. Even Brooks, our hard-fisted, unimaginative 
boatswain, told me, in confidence, of having heard 
three strange groans out upon the ice. He “ thought 
it was a bear, but could see nothing !” In a word, the 
health of our little company was broken in upon. It 
required strenuous and constant effort at washing, diet, 
and exercise to keep the scurvy at bay. Eight cases 
of scorbutic gums were already upon my black-list. 
One severe pneumonia left me in anxious doubt as to 
its result. There was, however, little bronchitis. 
'^December 22, Sunday. The solstice ! — the midnight 
of the year ! It commences with a new movement in 
the ice, the open lead of yesterday piling up into hum- 
mocks on our port-beam. No harm done. 
“ The wind is from the west, increasing in fresh- 
ness since early in the morning. The weather over- 
cast ; even the moon unseen, and no indications of our 
