"'E. N.' "Then I read aloud our last greeting, a telegram we received at Tromsö from Moltke Moe: "'Luck on the way, Sun on the sea, Sun on your minds, Help from the winds; May the packed floes Part and unclose Where the ship goes. Forward her progress be, E'en though the silent sea, Then After her freeze up again. "'Strength enough, meat enough, Hope enough, heat enough; The Fram will go sure enough then To the Pole and so back to the dwellings of men. Luck on the way To thee and thy band, And welcome back to the fatherland!' "After this we read some of Vinje's poems, and then sang songs from the Framsjaa and others. "It seems strange that we should have seen the New Year in already, and that it will not begin at home for eight hours yet. It is almost 4 A.M. now. I had thought of sitting up till it was New Year in Norway too; but no; I will rather go to bed and sleep, and dream that I am at home. "Monday, January 1st, 1894. The year began well. I was awakened by Juell's cheerful voice wishing me a Happy New Year. He had come to give me a cup of coffee in bed--delicious Turkish coffee, his Christmas present from Miss Fougner. It is beautiful clear weather, with the thermometer at 36° below zero (-38° C.). It almost seems to me as if the twilight in the south were beginning to grow; the upper edge of it to-day was 14° above the horizon. "An extra good dinner at 6 P.M. 1. Tomato soup. 2. Cod roe with melted butter and potatoes. 3. Roast reindeer, with green pease, potatoes, and cranberry jam. 4. Cloudberries with milk. Ringnes beer. "I do not know if this begins to give any impression of great sufferings and privations. I am lying in my berth, writing, reading, and dreaming. It is always a curious feeling to write for the first time the number of a New Year. Not till then does one grasp the fact that the old year is a thing of the past; the new one is here, and one must prepare to wrestle with it. Who knows what it is bringing? Good and evil, no doubt, but most good. It cannot but be that we shall go forward towards our goal and towards home. "'Life is rich and wreathed in roses; Gaze forth into a world of dreams.'