a being brought down to the
surface of the earth. It is certain that the higher air is warmer
than the lower, which comes into contact with snow and ice surfaces
cooled by radiation. Our observations go to prove that such is the
case. Add to this that the air in its fall is heated by the rising
pressure. A strong wind, even if it does not come from the higher
strata of the atmosphere, must necessarily make some confusion in the
mutual position of the various strata, mixing the higher with those
below them, and vice versa.

"I had a strange dream last night. I had got home. I can still feel
something of the trembling joy, mixed with fear, with which I neared
land and the first telegraph station. I had carried out my plan;
we had reached the North Pole on sledges, and then got down to Franz
Josef Land. I had seen nothing but drift-ice; and when people asked
what it was like up there, and how we knew we had been to the Pole, I
had no answer to give; I had forgotten to take accurate observations,
and now began to feel that this had been stupid of me. It is very
curious that I had an exactly similar dream when we were drifting on
the ice-floes along the east coast of Greenland, and thought that we
were being carried farther and farther from our destination. Then
I dreamed that I had reached home after crossing Greenland on the
ice; but that I was ashamed because I could give no account of what
I had seen on the way--I had forgotten everything. Is there not a
lucky omen in the resemblance between these two dreams? I attained
my aim the first time, bad as things looked; shall I not do so this
time too? If I were superstitious I should feel surer of it; but,
even though I am not at all superstitious, I have a firm conviction
that our enterprise must be successful. This belief is not merely the
result of the last two days' south wind; something within me says that
we shall succeed. I laugh now at myself for having been weak enough to
doubt it. I can spend hours staring into the light, dreaming of how,
when we land, I shall grope my way to the first telegraph station,
trembling with emotion and suspense. I write out telegram after
telegram; I ask the clerk if he can give me any news from home.

"Friday, January 19th. Splendid wind, with velocity of 13 to 19
feet per second; we are going north at a grand rate. The red,
glowing twilight is now so bright about midday that if we were in
more southern latitudes we should expect to s