THE POLAR NIGHT.

The long night was ushered in by a violent storm. The cold was perhaps a

little less severe, but the air was very damp, and, in spite of every

precaution, the humidity penetrated into the house, and the condensers, which

were emptied every morning, contained several pounds of ice.

Outside drifts whirled past like waterspouts-the snow seemed no longer to

fall horizontally but vertically. The Lieutenant was obliged to insist upon the

door being kept shut, for had it been opened the passages would immediately have

become blocked up. The explorers were literally prisoners.

The window shutters were hermetically closed, and the lamps were kept burning

through the long hours of the sleepless night.

But although darkness reigned without, the noise of the tempest replaced the

silence usually so complete in these high latitudes. The roaring of the wind

between the house and the cliff never ceased for a moment, the house trembled to

its foundations, and had it not been for the solidity of its construction, must

have succumbed to the violence of the hurricane. Fortunately the accumulation of

snow round the walls broke the force of the squall, and Mac-Nabs only fear was

for the chimneys, which were liable to be blown over. However, they remained

firm, although they had constantly to be freed from the snow which blocked up

the openings.

In the midst of the whistling of the wind, loud reports were heard, of which

Mrs Barnett could not conjecture the cause. It was the falling of icebergs in

the offing. The echoes caught up the sounds, which were rolled along like the

reverberations of thunder. The ground shook as the ice-fields split open,

crushed by the falling of these mighty mountains, and none but those thoroughly

inured to the horrors of these wild rugged climates could witness these strange

phenomena without a shudder. Lieutenant Hobson and his companions were

accustomed to all these things, and Mrs Barnett and Madge were gradually

becoming so, and were, besides, not altogether unfamiliar with those terrible

winds which move at the rate of forty miles an hour, and overturn twenty-four

pounders. Here, however, the darkness and the snow aggravated the dread might of

the storm; that which was not crushed was buried and smothered, and, probably

twelve hours after the commencement of the tempest, house, kennel, shed, and

enceinte would have disappeared beneath a bed of snow of uniform thickness.

The time was not wasted during this long imprisonment. All these good people

agreed together perfectly, and neither ill-humour nor ennui marred the

contentment of the little party shut up in such a narrow space. They were used

to life under similar conditions at Forts Enterprise and Reliance, and there was

nothing to excite Mrs Barnett's surprise in their ready accommodation of

themselves to circumstances.

Part of the day was occupied with work, part with reading and games. Garments

had to be made and mended, arms to be kept bright and in good repair, boots to

be manufactured, and the daily journal to be issued in which Lieutenant Hobson

recorded the slightest events of this northern wintering-the weather, the

temperature, the direction of the wind, the appearance of meteors so frequent in

the Polar regions, &c., &c. Then the house had to be kept in order, the

rooms must be swept, and the stores of furs must be visited every day to see if

they were free from damp; the fires and stoves, too, required constant

superintendence, and perpetual vigilance was necessary to prevent the

accumulation of particles of moisture in the corners.

To each one was assigned a task, the duty of each one was laid down in rules

fixed up in the large room, so that without being overworked, the occupants of

the fort were never without something to do. Thomas Black screwed and unscrewed

his instruments, and looked over his astronomical calculations, remaining almost

always shut up in his cabin, fretting and fuming at the storm which prevented

him from making nocturnal observations. The three married women had also plenty

to see to : Mrs Mac-Nab busied herself with her baby who got on wonderfully,

whilst Mrs Joliffe, assisted by Mrs Rae, and with the Corporal always at her

heels, presided in the kitchen.

When work was done the entire party assembled in the large room, spending the

whole of Sunday together. Reading was the chief amusement. The Bible and some

books of travels were the whole library of the fort; but they were all the good

folks required. Mrs Barnett generally read aloud, and her audience listened with

delight. The Bible and accounts of adventures received a fresh charm when read

out in her clear earnest voice; her gestures were so expressive that imaginary

persons seemed to live when she spoke of them, and all were glad when she took

up the book. She was, in fact, the life and soul of the little community, eager

alike to give and receive instruction; she combined the charm and grace of a

woman with the energy of a man, and she consequently became the idol of the

rough soldiers, who would have willingly laid down their lives in her service.

Mrs Barnett shared everything with her companions, never holding herself aloof

or remaining shut up in her cabin, but working zealously amongst the others,

drawing out the most reticent by her intelligent questions and warm sympathy.

Good humour and good health prevailed throughout the little community, and

neither bands nor tongues were idle.

The storm, however, showed no signs of abating. The party had now been

confined to the house for three days, and the snow-drifts were as wild and

furious as ever. Lieutenant Hobson began to get anxious. It was becoming

imperatively necessary to renew the air of the rooms, which was too much charged

with carbonic acid. The light of the lamps began to pale in the unhealthy

atmosphere, and the air-pumps would not act, the pipes being choked up with ice;

they were not, in fact, intended to be used when the house was buried in snow.

It was necessary to take counsel; the Lieutenant and Sergeant Long put their

heads together, and it was decided on November 23d that, as the wind beat with

rather less violence on the front of the house, one of the windows at the end of

the passage on that side should be opened.

This was no light matter. It was easy enough to open the window from inside,

but the shutter outside was encrusted over with thick lumps of ice, and resisted

every effort to move it. It had to be taken off its hinges, and the hard mass of

snow was then attacked with pickaxe and shovel; it was at least ten feet thick,

and it was not until a kind of channel bad been scooped out that the outer air

was admitted.

Hobson, the Sergeant, several soldiers, and Mrs Barnett herself ventured to

creep through this tunnel or channel, but not without considerable difficulty,

for the wind rushed in with fearful fury.

What a scene was presented by Cape Bathurst and the surrounding plain. It was

mid-day, and but a few faint twilight rays glimmered upon the southern horizon.

The cold was not so intense as one would have supposed, and the thermometer

marked only 15? Fahrenheit above zero; but the snow-drifts whirled along with

terrific force, and all would inevitably have been thrown to the ground, had not

the snow in which they were standing up to their waists helped to sustain them

against the gusts of wind. Everything around them was white, the walls of the

enceinte, and the whole of the house even to the roof were completely covered

over, and nothing but a few blue wreaths of smoke would have betrayed the

existence of a human habitation to a stranger.

Under the circumstances the " promenade " was soon over; but Mrs Barnett bad

made good use of her time, and would never forget the awful beauty of the Polar

regions in a snow-storm, a beauty upon which few women had been privileged to

look.

A few moments sufficed to renew the atmosphere of the house, and all

unhealthy vapours were quickly dispersed by the introduction of a pure and

refreshing current of air.

The Lieutenant and his companions hurried in, and the window was again

closed; but after that the snow before it was removed every day for the sake of

ventilation.

The entire week passed in a similar manner; fortunately the rein-deer and

dogs had plenty of food, so that there was no need to visit them. The eight days

during which the occupants of the fort were imprisoned so closely, could not

fail to be somewhat irksome to strong men, soldiers and hunters, accustomed to

plenty of exercise in the open air; and we must own that listening to reading

aloud gradually lost its charm, and even cribbage became uninteresting. The last

thought at night was a hope that the tempest might have ceased in the morning, a

hope disappointed every day. Fresh snow constantly accumulated upon the windows,

the wind roared, the icebergs burst with a crash like thunder, the smoke was

forced back into the rooms, and there were no signs of a diminution of the fury

of the storm.

At last, however, on the 28th November the Aneroid barometer in the large

room gave notice of an approaching change in the state of the atmosphere. It

rose rapidly, whilst the thermometer outside fell almost suddenly to less than

four degrees below zero. These were symptoms which could not be mistaken, and on

the 29th November the silence all around the fort told that the tempest had

ceased.

Every one was eager to get out, tine confinement had lasted long enough. The

door could not be opened, and all had to get through the window, and clear away

the fresh accumulation of snow; this time, however, it was no soft mass they had

to remove, but compact blocks of ice, which required pick-axes to break them

up.

It took about half-an-hour to clear a passage, and then every one in the

fort, except Mrs Mac-Nab, who was not yet up, hastened into the interior court,

glad once more to be able to walk about.

The cold was still intense, but the wind having gone down it was possible to

endure it, although great care was necessary to escape serious consequences on

leaving the heated rooms for the open air, the difference between the

temperature inside and outside being some fifty-four degrees.

It was eight o'clock in the morning. Myriads of brilliant constellations

studded the sky, and at the zenith shone the Pole star. Although in both

hemispheres there are in reality but 5000 fixed stars visible to the naked eye,

their number appeared to the observers incalculable. Exclamations of admiration

burst involuntarily from the lips of the delighted astronomer as he gazed into

the cloudless heavens, once more undimmed by mists or vapours. Never had a more

beautiful sky been spread out before the eyes of an astronomer.

Whilst Thomas Black was raving in ecstasy, dead to all terrestrial matters,

his companions had wandered as far as the enceinte. The snow was as hard as a

rock, And so slippery that there were a good many tumbles, but no serious

injuries.

It is needless to state that the court of the fort was completely filled up.

The roof of the house alone appeared above the white mass, the surface of which

had been worn smooth by the action of the wind; of the palisade nothing was

visible but the top of the stakes, and the least nimble of the wild animals they

dreaded could easily have climbed over them. But what was to be done? It was no

use to think of clearing away a mass of frozen snow ten feet thick, extending

over so large an extent of ground. All they could attempt would be to dig away

the ice inside the enceinte, so as to form a kind of moat, the counterscarp of

which would protect the palisade. But alas the winter was only beginning, and a

fresh tempest might at any time fill in the ditch a few hours.

Whilst the Lieutenant was examining the works, which could no more protect

his fort than a single sunbeam could melt the solid layer of snow,-Mrs Joliffe

suddenly exclaimed:

"And our dogs! our reindeer!"

It was indeed time to think about the poor animals. The dog house and stable

being lower than the house were probably entirely covered, and the supply of air

had perhaps been completely cut off. Some hurried to the dog-house, others to

the reindeer stable, and all fears were quickly dispelled. The wall of ice,

which connected the northern corner of the house with the cliff, had partly

protected the two buildings, and the snow round them was not more than four feet

thick, so that the apertures left in the walls had not been closed up. The

animals were all well, and when the door was opened, the dogs rushed out barking

with delight.

The cold was so intense, that after an hour's walk every one began to think

of the glowing stove in the large room at home. There was nothing left to be

done outside, the traps buried beneath ten feet of snow could not be visited, so

all returned to the house, the window, was closed, and the party sat down to the

dinner awaiting them with sharpened appetites.

We can readily imagine that the conversation turned on the intensity of the

cold, which had so rapidly converted the soft snow into a solid mass. It was no

light matter, and might to a certain extent compromise the safety of the little

colony.

"But, Lieutenant," said Mrs Barnett, "can we not count upon a few days'

thaw-will not all this snow be rapidly converted into water?"

"Oh no, madam," replied Hobson, "a thaw at this time of year is not at all

likely. Indeed I expect the thermometer will fall still lower, and it is very

much to be regretted that we were unable to remove the snow when it was

soft."

What, you think the temperature likely to become much colder?"

"I do most certainly, madam, 4? below zero-what is that at this

latitude?"

"What would it be if we were at the Pole itself?"

"The Pole, madam, is probably not the coldest point of the globe, for most

navigators agree that the sea is there open. From certain peculiarities of its

geographical position it would appear that a certain spot on the shores of North

Georgia, 95? longitude and 78? latitude, has the coldest mean temperature in the

world: 2? below zero all the year round. It is, therefore, called the 'pole of

cold.' "

"But," said Mrs Barnett, "we are more than 8? further south than that famous

point."

"Well, I don't suppose we shall suffer as much at Cape Bathurst as we might

have done in North Georgia. I only tell you of the 'pole of cold,' that you may

not confound it with the Pole properly so-called when the lowness of the

temperature is discussed. Great cold has besides been experienced on other

points of the globe. The difference is, that the low temperature is not there

maintained."

"To what places do you allude?" inquired Mrs Barnett; "I assure you I take

the greatest interest in this matter of degrees of cold."

"As far as I can remember, madam," replied the Lieutenant, Arctic explorers

state that at Melville Island the temperature fell to 61? below zero, and at

Port Felix to 65?."

"But Melville Island and Port Felix are some degrees farther north latitude

than Cape Bathurst, are they not?"

"Yes, madam, but in a certain sense we may say that their latitude proves

nothing. A combination of different atmospheric conditions is requisite to

produce intense cold. Local and other causes largely modify climate. If I

remember rightly in 1845 . . . Sergeant Long, you were at Fort Reliance at that

date?

"Yes, sir," replied Long.

"Well, was it not in January of that year that the cold was so

excessive?"

"Yes it was, I remember only too well that the thermometer marked 70? below

zero."

"What!" exclaimed Mrs Barnett, "at Fort Reliance, on the Great Slave

Lake?"

"Yes, madam," replied the Lieutenant, "and that was at 65? north latitude

only, which is the same parallel as that of Christiania and St Petersburg."

"Then we must be prepared for everything."

"Yes, indeed, we must when we winter in Arctic countries."

During the 29th and 30th November, the cold did not decrease, and it was

necessary to keep up huge fires to prevent the freezing in all the corners of

the house of the moisture in the atmosphere. Fortunately there was plenty of

fuel, and it was not spared. A mean temperature of 52? Fahrenheit was maintained

indoors in spite of the intensity of the cold without.

Thomas Black was so anxious to take stellar observations, now that the sky

was so clear, that he braved the rigour of the outside temperature, hoping to be

able to examine some of the magnificent constellations twinkling on the zenith.

But he was compelled to desist-his instruments "burnt" his hands! "Burnt" is the

only word to express the sensation produced by touching a metallic body

subjected to the influence of intense cold. Exactly similar results are produced

by the sudden introduction of heat into an animate body, and the sudden

withdrawal of the same from it, as the astronomer found to his cost when he left

the skin of his fingers on his instruments. He had to give up taking

observations.

However, the heavens made him the best amends in their power by displaying

the most beautiful and indescribable phenomena of a lunar halo and an Aurora

Borealis.

The lunar halo was a white corona with a pale red edge encircling the moon.

This luminous meteor was about forty-five degrees in diameter, and was the

result of the diffraction of the lunar rays through the small prismatic

ice-crystals floating in the atmosphere. The queen of the night shone with

renewed splendour and heightened beauty from the centre of the luminous ring,

the colour and consistency of which resembled the milky transparent lunar

rainbows which have been so often described by astronomers.

Fifteen hours later the heavens were lit up by a magnificent Aurora Borealis,

the arch of which extended over more than a hundred geographical degrees. The

vertex of this arch was situated in the magnetic meridian, and, as is often the

case, the rays darted by the luminous meteor were of all the colours of the

rainbow, red predominating. Here and there. the stars seemed to be floating in

blood. Glowing lines of throbbing colour spread from the dark segment on the

horizon, some of them passing the zenith and quenching the light of the moon in

their electric waves, which oscillated and trembled as if swept by a current of

air.

No description could give an adequate idea of the glory which flushed the

northern sky, converting it into a vast dome of fire, but after the magnificent

spectacle had been enjoyed for about half an hour, it suddenly disappeared-not

fading gradually away after concentration of its rays, or a diminution of its

splendour, but dying abruptly, as if an invisible hand had cut off the supply of

electricity which gave it life.

It was time it was over, for the sake of Thomas Black, for in another five

minutes he would have been frozen where he stood !