. During part of that period it shines at mid-night as well as at
mid-day. Put during the greater part of the year its beams throw but a
feeble light there, and for several months in winter there is absolutely
no day at all--nothing but one long dismal night of darkness, that seems
as if the bright orb of day had vanished from the heavens for ever.

The length of this prolonged day in summer, and this dreary night in
winter, depends, of course, upon latitude. The length of both increases
as we approach the poles. The long daylight in summer is exceedingly
delightful. We once saw the sun describe an almost unbroken circle in
the sky for many days and nights, and had we been a few degrees further
north we should have seen it describe an entire circle. As it was, it
only disappeared for twenty minutes. It set about midnight, and in
twenty minutes it rose again so that there was no night, not even
twilight, but a bright, beautiful blazing day, for several weeks
together.

Dr Kane describes the midnight sun thus: "On our road we were favoured
with a gorgeous spectacle, which hardly any excitement of peril could
have made us overlook. The midnight sun came out over the northern
crest of the great berg, our late `fast friend,' kindling
variously-coloured fires on every part of its surface, and making the
ice around us one great resplendency of gem-work--blazing carbuncles and
rubies, and molten gold."

Very different indeed is the aspect of the winter night. Let the same
authority speak, for he had great experience thereof.

On December 15th he writes: "We have lost the last vestige of our
mid-day twilight. We cannot see print, and hardly paper. The fingers
cannot be counted a foot front the eyes. Noonday and midnight are
alike; and, except a vague glimmer on the sky, that seems to define the
hill-outlines to the south, we have nothing to tell us that this arctic
world of ours has a sun. In one week more we shall reach the midnight
of the year...

"The influence of this long intense darkness was most depressing. Even
our dogs, although the greater number of them were natives of the arctic
circle, were unable to withstand it. Most of them died from an
anomalous form of disease, to which I am satisfied, the absence of light
contributed as much as extreme cold." Quoting from his journal he says:
"I am so afflicted with the insomnia of this eternal night, that I rise
at any time between midnight and noon. I w