On the one-half of this domain he can raise snow, ice, sand, rocks, and nothing else.

So the valuable part of his inheritance really consists of but a single fifth of the family estate; and out of it he has to grub hard to get enough to keep him alive and provide kings and soldiers and powder to extend the blessings of civilization with.

Yet man, in his simplicity and complacency and inability to cipher, thinks Nature regards him as the important member of the family--in fact, her favorite.

Surely, it must occur to even his dull head, sometimes, that she has a curious way of showing it.
Afternoon.

The captain has been telling how, in one of his Arctic voyages, it was so cold that the mate's shadow froze fast to the deck and had to be ripped loose by main strength.