the sun at midnight
They were near the coast and supplied with everything that could render their life comfortable in that latitude . They could take sleigh-rides and see in the distance the whales enjoying their diversions . The summer solstice was approaching . Since the fifteenth the occupants of the `` Alaska '' had beheld a new and astonishing spectacle , even for Norwegians and the natives of southern Sweden ; it was the sun at midnight touching the horizon without disappearing and then mounting again in the sky . In these high latitudes and desolate coasts the star of day describes in twenty-four hours a complete circle in space . The light , it is true , is pale and languishing , objects lose their perfect shape , and all nature has a shadowy appearance . One realizes profoundly how far he is removed from the world , and how near he is to the pole .