to travel in the sky. When
the weather is clear there is starlight, even in the dark period; but it
is a peculiar, cold, and spectral starlight, which, to borrow the words
of Milton, seems but to make the "darkness visible."

When the stars are hidden, which may be much of the time, the darkness
is so thick that it seems as if it could almost be grasped with the
hand, and in a driving wind and snowstorm, if a man ventures to put his
head outside the cabin door, he seems to be hurled back by invisible
hands of demoniacal strength.

During the early part of the winter the Eskimos lived in the forward
deck house of the ship. There was always a fire in the galley stove, a
fire in the Eskimo quarters, and one in the crew's quarters; but though
I had a small cylindrical coal stove in my cabin, it was not lighted
throughout the winter. Leaving the forward door of my cabin open into
the galley a part of the time, kept my cabin comfortably warm. Bartlett
occasionally had a fire in his cabin, and the other members of the
expedition sometimes lighted their oil-stoves.

On the first of November we adopted the winter schedule of two meals a
day, breakfast at nine, dinner at four. This is the weekly bill of fare
which Percy, the steward, and I made out and which was followed
throughout the winter:

Monday. _Breakfast_: Cereal. Beans and brown bread. Butter. Coffee.
_Dinner_: Liver and bacon. Macaroni and cheese. Bread and butter. Tea.

Tuesday. _Breakfast_: Oatmeal. Ham and eggs. Bread and butter. Coffee.
_Dinner_: Corned beef and creamed peas. Duff. Tea.

Wednesday. _Breakfast_: Choice of two kinds of cereal. Fish, forward
(that is, for the sailors); sausage, aft (for the members of the
expedition). Bread and butter. Coffee. _Dinner_: Steak and tomatoes.
Bread and butter. Tea.

Thursday. _Breakfast_: Cereal. Ham and eggs. Bread and butter. Coffee.
_Dinner_: Corned beef and peas. Duff. Tea.

Friday. _Breakfast_: Choice of cereal. Fish. Hamburger on starboard (our
own) table. Bread and butter. Coffee. _Dinner_: Pea soup. Fish.
Cranberry pie. Bread and butter. Tea.

Saturday. _Breakfast_: Cereal. Meat stew. Bread and butter. Coffee.
_Dinner_: Steak and tomatoes. Bread and butter. Tea.

Sunday. _Breakfast_: Cereal. "Brooze" (Newfoundland hard biscuit,
softened and boiled with salt codfish). Bread and butter. Coffee.
_Dinner_: Salmon trout. Fruit. Chocolate.

Our table conversation was mainly with regard to our work. We woul