1852.] DAMAGE FROM SNOW STORM. 157 



composed of canvas, and the vibration caused by the gale 

 against the planking which supported the instruments, 

 might be supposed to militate against the formation of 

 any fragile accumulation of impalpable " barber" or snow 

 dust; "barber" meaning trnly, the immediate conden- 

 sation of the vapour arising from water at the point of 

 condensation, and blown upon the beard, or the natural 

 condensation on the beard of the exudation from " the 

 animal." I do not admit that the term is Arctic. I 

 knew it as all my old friends who preceded me some 

 fifty years ago as the well-known "barber" corning 

 down the narrows of the basin at Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

 Entering this portico, instead of the aneroid, a light cone 

 presented itself, having the aneroid as its base, the base 

 and frustum of the cone of snow being about two feet 

 each. This, although of such light material, did not 

 yield easily : but by the repeated application of the 

 snow-brush I gradually cleared away the snow, and 

 rescued the instruments unhurt. 



The next was the Observatory, and this I almost 

 feared to enter, for the doorway presented difficulties 



