midnight
The weather , however , was colder than ever , and we were less able to be exposed to the air for any length of time than during the dark months . About the middle of March there were slight signs of a thaw , the snow being glazed over in the evening , as if the sun had had some effect on it . We also felt a sensible improvement in the temperature , and were soon able not only to wash our clothes , but to dry them in the open air , an operation which rather astonished our Esquimaux friends . Early in May there was a perceptible twilight at midnight , so that we felt the summer had once more begun . A little later , ptarmigan , grouse , and other birds made their appearance , and the Esquimaux reported that they had seen the tracks of deer and musk-oxen . Still , far out to sea there was the same dreary flat expanse of ice , covered with a sheet of snow . I ought to have mentioned that for the sake of being nearer the edge of the ice , where seals could be caught , some of our friends had built for themselves snow-huts on the ice .