Even if the moon had been in full glory but few observations could have been made.

At this season of the year an immense curtain of snow, an icy carapace, covers up the polar surface.

There was none of that ice "blink" to be seen, that whitish tint of which the reflection is absent from dark horizons.

Under such circumstances, how could they distinguish the shape of the ground, the extent of the seas, the position of the islands?
How could they recognize the hydrographic network of the country or the orographic configuration, and distinguish the hills and mountains from the icebergs and floes?
A little after midnight an aurora illuminated the darkness.

With its silver fringes and spangles radiating over space, it seemed like a huge fan open over half the sky.