f the same
sort as those which are used in the Russian army. I had bought the
baschliks in St. Petersburg on account of the Expedition.

6. _Fingerless gloves_ of sealskin and chamois, with an inside
lining of sheepskin and at the wrists bordered with long-haired fur.
They were commonly carried with a band from the neck, as children
are wont to carry their gloves. For outside work these thick gloves
were too inconvenient; then fingerless woollen mittens were used.

7. _Coloured spectacles_, which were distributed to all the men in
the beginning of February. One must himself have lived in the Polar
regions during winter and spring, "after the return of the sun," to
understand how indispensable is such a protection from the
monotonous white light which then surrounds the eye in every
direction. The inexperienced, though warned, seldom observe the
necessary precautions, and commonly pay the penalty by a more or
less complete snowblindness, which indeed is not very dangerous, but
is always exceedingly painful, and which lasts several days.

On board the vessel in our cabins and collection-rooms it was
besides by no means so cold as many would suppose. The sides of the
vessel in several places indeed, especially in the cabins, were
covered with a thick sheet of ice, and so was the skylight in the
gun-room. But in the inhabited parts of the vessel we had, a little
from the sides, commonly a temperature of +12 deg. to +17 deg.,
that is to say about the same as we in the north are wont to have
indoors in winter, and certainly higher than the temperature of
rooms during the coldest days of the year in many cities in the
south, as for instance in Paris and Vienna. By night however the
temperature in the cabins sank sometimes to +5 deg. and +10 deg.,
and the boarding at the side of the berth became covered
with ice. In the work-room 'tweendecks the thermometer generally
stood about +10 deg., and even in the underhold, which was not
heated, but lay under the water-line, the temperature was never
under, commonly 1 deg. or 2 deg. above, the freezing-point.

Much greater inconvenience than from cold did we in the cabins suffer
from the excessive heat and the fumes, which firing in large cast-iron
stoves is wont to cause in small close rooms. When in the morning after
a cold night the watch all too willingly obeyed the direction, which
sounded from different quarters, to fire well, one had often his wish so
thoroughly satisfied,