re long they were
lucky enough to find, about a hundred feet above the central grotto, a
small recess or reduct hollowed, as it were, in the mountain side, which
would exactly answer their purpose. It contained room enough for a bed,
a table, an arm-chair, a chest of drawers, and, what was of still more
consequence, for the indispensable telescope. One small stream of
lava, an off-shoot of the great torrent, sufficed to warm the apartment
enough.

In these retired quarters the astronomer took up his abode. It was on
all hands acknowledged to be advisable to let him go on entirely in his
own way. His meals were taken to him at stated intervals; he slept but
little; carried on his calculations by day, his observations by night,
and very rarely made his appearance amongst the rest of the little
community.

The cold now became very intense, the thermometer registering 30 degrees
F. below zero. The mercury, however, never exhibited any of those
fluctuations that are ever and again to be observed in variable
climates, but continued slowly and steadily to fall, and in all
probability would continue to do so until it reached the normal
temperature of the regions of outlying space.

This steady sinking of the mercury was accompanied by a complete
stillness of the atmosphere; the very air seemed to be congealed; no
particle of it stirred; from zenith to horizon there was never a cloud;
neither were there any of the damp mists or dry fogs which so often
extend over the polar regions of the earth; the sky was always clear;
the sun shone by day and the stars by night without causing any
perceptible difference in the temperature.

These peculiar conditions rendered the cold endurable even in the open
air. The cause of so many of the diseases that prove fatal to Arctic
explorers resides in the cutting winds, unwholesome fogs, or terrible
snow drifts, which, by drying up, relaxing, or otherwise affecting the
lungs, make them incapable of fulfilling their proper functions. But
during periods of calm weather, when the air has been absolutely still,
many polar navigators, well-clothed and properly fed, have been known
to withstand a temperature when the thermometer has fallen to 60 degrees
below zero. It was the experience of Parry upon Melville Island, of
Kane beyond latitude 81 degrees north, and of Hall and the crew of the
_Polaris_, that, however intense the cold, in the absence of the wind
they could always brave its rigor.

N