We have had appropriate music to celebrate the occasion and are happy. [Illustration: Old Hummocks.] [Illustration: A Tonite Explosion Used in Efforts to Free the _Belgica_.] November 27.--Our winter temperature was very slow in falling, and the minimum was not reached until after sunrise. Our lowest observation was recorded on September 8, -43.1° C. In less than ten days after this it had risen to a fraction above zero, and we were drenched with rain and melting snow; since then it has occasionally fallen to -20°, but it has slowly and persistently risen until now the normal temperature is one or two degrees below zero, falling with a southerly wind to -10° and rising above zero with a strong northerly wind. The zoölogist has seen what he persists in calling a new bird. It resembles the giant petrel in size and colour, but its motion is entirely different. Anatomical details have not been observed, and, “The bird,” says the naturalist, “is either shot-proof or it is able to dodge the lead.” But since Mr. Racovitza had considerable fun from our mistaken reports of true sea-leopards, we have taken advantage of this story to restore our fallen reputation. We persist in saying that unless he produces the bird, or gives us an exact technical description, anatomical and physiological, we maintain the privilege of ascribing the sight to a kind of sunny intoxication which at present, under the influence of the midnight sun, is not uncommon. CHAPTER XXVIII SUMMER (CONTINUED). December 2.--Our drift lately has been almost imperceptible. The winds, always feeble and never continuing long in one direction, have simply kept up a little agitation in the pack while the tides have driven the bergs to and fro a little, and thus the pack has become more and more divided. For most of the time the wind has followed the sun around the horizon, and nothing could be more ineffectual in making ice navigable than light, shifting winds. Since it takes the pack a long time to gain momentum, a wind which does not last for several days is of no use unless it is a tempest. Our latitude to-day is 70° 18′, longitude 83° 25′. Our drift throughout the season has been considerable. If it had been in one direction it could have taken us across the south pole or to the magnetic pole.