Through the first Antarctic night, 1898-1899 : $b a narrative of the voyage of the "Belgica" among newly discovered lands and over an unknown sea about the south poleCook, Frederick Albert
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Through the first Antarctic night, 1898-1899 : $b a narrative of the voyage of the "Belgica" among newly discovered lands and over an unknown sea about the south pole
Cook, Frederick Albert
Antarctica; Antarctica -- Discovery and exploration -- Belgian; Belgica (Ship); Voyages and travels
5 P. M.--The storm has at last abated. It has left us so
suddenly that the calm is as unexpected as it is appreciated. The
barometer is steady and the temperature is falling fast. It is already
-9°C., and is still falling. The scene now before us is full of new
delights. The ice is spread out again, bright, soft and tinted with
delicate colours. Every time the thick air and the gloomy clouds of
storm are brushed away, the pack, white and sparkling, has a new story
to tell. It brings to us moods like a cheerful page in a sad story.
Under the influence of this spell everybody is singing, whistling,
and humming familiar tunes; all are planning new work and nursing big
ambitions. In the cabin the music-boxes are grinding out favourite
music, which rings over the pack with a new joy. In the forecastle the
men are dancing and playing the accordion with telling effect. From
some invisible point of the pack there comes a weird response to every
discord of the music. It is the _gha-a-ah_, _gha-a-ah_ of
the penguins. We have had a peep at the sun and this has brought about
an intoxication akin to alcoholic stimulation, and well it might, for
the brief period of its visibility has been a dream of charms. The
great twilight zone of purple fringed with violet and orange and rose
is rising over the east. The zenith is pale blue studded with a few
scarlet and lavender clouds, and the sun, a great ball of old gold, is
sinking under the pearly rose-tinged line of the endless expanse of
ice.
[Illustration: 1. The American Lumberman’s Boot.
2. The Norwegian Farmer’s Snow-shoe.
3. A Norwegian “Truge,” a Snow-shoe made of Reeds, and the
“Komager,” a Boot made of Soft Leather.
4. Boot and Sock made of Penguin Skins.
5. The “Lauparsko” with _Ski_ Attachment.
6. The “Finesco,” a Finnish Reindeer Skin Boot, and the Alpine
Disc Snow-shoes.
7. The Eskimo “Kamik.”
8. The Belgian Wooden Shoe.
A Page of _Belgica_ Boots.]
8 P. M.--The ice shows signs of strong pressure from the
north. Along the crevasses, running easterly and westerly there are
great lines of hummocks from four to eight feet in height. The colours
of the pack are now far from the despairing monotone of yesterday.
The yellow sea algæ have already fixed themselves in the new ice and
make it appear ocherous. The twilight on clear nights is extended by
the latent luminosity of the snow. The blueness of the pack in this
twilight, separated by the ebony lanes of open water and decorated by
the algæ-strewn yellow and green lines in the hummocks, make the scenes
curiously attractive. Added to this we have the bergs, tall, sharp, and
imposing, standing out against the soft blue of the sky and the hard
blue of the pack as if cut from huge masses of alabaster. The whole
scene is one of lively contrasts, pleasing to the eye and stimulating
to the mind, having quite the reverse of the effect of the days of
darkness and depressing storms which have preceded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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