deg. above zero or at 22 deg. below it we have no fire in the stove. The
ventilation is excellent, especially since we rigged up the air sail,
which sends a whole winter's cold in through the ventilator; yet
in spite of this we sit here warm and comfortable, with only a lamp
burning. I am thinking of having the stove removed altogether; it is
only in the way. At least, as far as our protection from the winter
cold is concerned, my calculations have turned out well. Neither do
we suffer much from damp. It does collect and drop a little from the
roof in one or two places, especially astern in the four-man cabins,
but nothing in comparison with what is common in other ships; and
if we lighted the stove it would disappear altogether. When I have
burned a lamp for quite a short time in my cabin every trace of
damp is gone. [37] These are extraordinary fellows for standing the
cold. With the thermometer at 22 deg. below zero Bentzen goes up in his
shirt and trousers to read the thermometer on deck.

"Monday, November 27th. The prevailing wind has been southerly, with
sometimes a little east. The temperature still keeps between 13 deg.
and 22 deg. below zero; in the hold it has fallen to 12 deg.."

It has several times struck me that the streamers of the aurora
borealis followed in the direction of the wind, from the wind's eye on
the horizon. On Thursday morning, when we had very slight northeasterly
wind, I even ventured to prophesy, from the direction of the streamers,
that it would go round to the southeast, which it accordingly did. On
the whole there has been much less of the aurora borealis lately
than at the beginning of our drift. Still, though it may have been
faint, there has been a little every day. To-night it is very strong
again. These last days the moon has sometimes had rings round it, with
mock-moons and axes, accompanied by rather strange phenomena. When the
moon stands so low that the ring touches the horizon, a bright field
of light is formed where the horizon cuts the ring. Similar expanses
of light are also formed where the perpendicular axis from the moon
intersects the horizon. Faint rainbows are often to be seen in these
shining light-fields; yellow was generally the strongest tint nearest
the horizon, passing over into red, and then into blue. Similar colors
could also be distinguished in the mock-moons. Sometimes there are
two large rings, the one outside the other, and then there may be four
mock-