474 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
holes were kept constantly open, one hy the side of the vessel in 
case of fire, and the other for the tidal observations which 
Captain Palander set on foot during the winter. The latter 
hole was chosen by a little seal as its haunt for a long time, 
until one day we entertained ourselves hy catching him with 
the necessary care, and making him pay an involuntary visit on 
board, where he was offered various delicacies, which however 
were disregarded. The seal was let loose again in his hole, hut 
notwithstanding the friendliness we showed him, he never more 
returned. 
From the meteorological observations it appears that the win¬ 
ter was not so cold as the winters in the Franklin archipelago 
or in the coldest parts of the mainland of Siberia.^ On the 
other hand, it was exceedingly stormy at the Vegas winter 
station, and day after day, night after night, we have gone to 
and from the Observatory in a high wind and a cold of —30° 
to —46° C. In calm weather a cold of —40° is scarcely very 
troublesome, but with only a slight draught a degree of cold of 
for instance —35° is actually dangerous for one who goes against 
the wind, and without the necessary precautions exposes unco¬ 
vered parts of the face, the hands, or the wrists, to the cold current 
of air. Without one’s being warned by any severe pain frostbite 
arises, which, if it be not in time thawed by rubbing the injured 
part with the hand, or with melting snow, may readily become 
very serious. Most of those who for the first time took part 
in a wintering in the high north, were, when the first cold 
occurred, more or less frostbitten, on several occasions so that 
there arose high frost-blisters filled with bloody water, several 
1 According to H. Wild’s newly-published large work, Die Temperatur 
Verhdltmsse des Dussischen Reiches, 2e Halfte, St. Petersburg, 1881,” the 
Old World’s cold-pole lies in the neighbourhood of the town Werchojansk 
(67° 34' N.L. 133° 51' E.L. from Greenwich). The mean temperature of the 
different months and of the whole year is given in the note at page 411. If 
the data on which these figures rest are correct, the winter at Werchojansk 
is immensely colder than at the Vegas winter station. 
