XL] 
THE WEATHER DURING MAY AND JUNE. 
33 
In the society on board the prospects of an alteration in the 
constant north winds, the perpetual snow-storms and the un¬ 
ceasing cold, and the hope of a speedy release from the fetters of 
the ice, were naturally constantly recurring topics of conversa¬ 
tion. During this time many lively word-battles were fought 
between the weather prophets in the gunroom, and many bets 
made in jest between the optimists and pessimists. The former 
won a great victory, when at noon on the 8th February the 
temperature rose to 4- 0°vl C., but with the exception of this 
success fortune always went against them. The north wind, the 
drifting snow and the cold, would never cease. A blue water- 
sky indeed was often visible at the horizon to the north and 
north-east, but the clearing ” first reached our vessel a couple 
of hours before we left our winter haven for ever, and up to the 
15th June the thickness of the ice was almost undiminished (IJ 
metre). The sun rose higher and higher, but without forming 
any crust upon the snow, although upon the black hull of the 
Vega, perhaps with the help of the heat in the interior, it had 
by the 14th March melted so much snow that small icicles were 
formed at the gunwale. It was one of the many deceptive 
prognostications of spring which were hailed with delight. 
However, immediately after severe cold recommenced and 
continued during the whole of the month of April, during 
which the temperature of the air never rose above — 4°'6, the 
mean temperature being — 18°’9. 
May began with a temperature of — 20°*1. On the 3rd the 
thermometer showed —26°‘8, and in the “flower-month’’ we 
had only for a few hours mild weather with an air temperature 
+ 1°'8. Even the beginning of June was very cold ; on the 3rd 
we had —14°*3, with a mean temperature for the twenty-four 
hours of — 9°’4. Still on the 13th the thermometer at midnight 
showed — 8°’0, but the same day at noon with a gentle southerly 
wind a sudden change took place, and after that date it was 
only exceptionally that the thermometer in the open air sank 
VOL. II. D 
