THE POLAR NIGHT. 1 23 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 Bamett ; " 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 1846 . . . 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 Bamett, "at Fort Reliance, on the Great Slave Laker' "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 f feez- ing in all the corners of the house of the moisture in the
