y waning daylight. The menu was splendid: 1. Ox-tail
soup. 2. Fish-pudding, with melted butter and potatoes. 3. Turtle, with
marrowfat pease, etc., etc. 4. Rice, with multer (cloudberries) and
cream; Crown malt extract. After dinner, coffee and honey-cakes. After
supper, which also was excellent, there was a call for music, which was
liberally supplied throughout the whole evening by various accomplished
performers on the organ, among whom Bentzen specially distinguished
himself, his late experiences on the ice with the crank-handle [71]
having put him in first-rate training. Every now and then the music
dragged a bit, as though it were being hauled up from an abyss some
1000 or 1500 fathoms deep; then it would quicken and get more lively,
as it came nearer to the surface. At last the excitement rose to such
a pitch that Pettersen and I had to get up and have a dance, a waltz
and a polka or two; and we really executed some very tasteful pas de
deux on the limited floor of the saloon. Then Amundsen also was swept
into the mazes of the dance, while the others played cards. Meanwhile
refreshments were served in the form of preserved peaches, dried
bananas, figs, honey-cakes, etc., etc. In short, we made a jovial
evening of it, and why should we not? We are progressing merrily
towards our goal, we are already half-way between the New Siberian
Islands and Franz Josef Land, and there is not a soul on board who
doubts that we shall accomplish what we came out to do; so long
live merriment!

"But the endless stillness of the polar night holds its sway aloft; the
moon, half full, shines over the ice, and the stars sparkle brilliantly
overhead; there are no restless northern lights, and the south wind
sighs mournfully through the rigging. A deep, peaceful stillness
prevails everywhere. It is the infinite loveliness of death--Nirvana.

"Monday, October 22d. It is beginning to be cold now; the thermometer
was -34.6 deg. C. (30.2 deg. Fahr. below zero) last night, and this evening
it is -36 deg. C. (32.8 Fahr. below zero).

"A lovely aurora this evening (11.30). A brilliant corona encircled
the zenith with a wreath of streamers in several layers, one outside
the other; then larger and smaller sheaves of streamers spread over the
sky, especially low down towards S.W. and E.S.E. All of them, however,
tended upward towards the corona, which shone like a halo. I stood
watching it a long while. Every now and then I could discern a dark