The temperature has gone down within 4° of zero, but there is still much slush and dampness. The snow lying next the ice is filled with water, a circumstance which it is difficult to explain, since the temperature has not, at any time, reached the freezing point, and the ice on which the snow rests is over three feet thick. There would appear to be a sort of an osmotic action taking place. Snow is now beginning to fall, and, as usual, it is very light and beautifully and regularly crystalized. The depth of snow which has fallen up to this time is 15¼ inches. November 13th. Worse and worse. The temperature has risen again, and the roof over the upper deck gives us once more a worse than tropic shower. The snow next the ice grows more slushy, and this I am more than ever puzzled to understand, since I have found to-day that the ice, two feet below the surface, has a temperature of 20°; at the surface it is 19°, and the snow in contact with it is 18°. The water is 29°. The darkness is not yet quite absolute. With some difficulty I can still see to read ordinary print at noon. November 14th. The wind has been blowing for nearly twenty-four hours from the northeast, and yet the temperature holds on as before. At 10 o'clock this evening it was 4½°. I have done with speculation. A warm wind from the _mer de glace_, and this boundless reservoir of Greenland frost, makes mischief with my theories, as facts have heretofore done with the theories of wiser men. As long as the wind came from the sea I could find some excuse for the unseasonable warmth. [Sidenote: THE TIDE-REGISTER.] I have rigged a new tide-register to-day, with the aid of McCormick, my man of all ingenious work. If it prove as effective as it is simple, I shall have a good registry of the Port Foulke tides. It is but a light rope, to one end of which is attached a heavy stone that rests firmly on the bottom of the sea. The rope comes up through the fire-hole, and passes over a pulley and down again into the water, having at this last end a ten-pound leaden weight. The pulley is attached to an oar which is supported upon two pillars made with blocks of ice. Two feet below the oar, and in close contact with the rope, there is an iron rod, and, the rope being divided into feet and tenths of a foot by little strings having "knots," the stage of the tide is read with the aid of a bull's-eye lantern, as the rod passes the strings. The only drawback is the difficulty in keeping the rope from "fouling" with the ice, as it will do if the fire-hole is not cleared at least four times an hour. [Sidenote: THE FIRE-HOLE.] The fire-hole needs no description further than the mere mention of its name. In the event of fire occurring in the schooner, this hole is our only reliance for water; and it is therefore carefully looked after. Thus far the watch has broken it out hourly.