238 PECULIAR TEMPERATURES OF MARCH. [March, 



that it must be replaced. One missing, either buried in 

 the floe, or in the snow on shore : the latter might be 

 recovered. But the peculiarity of losing anything on 

 the floe may be readily understood by the fact, that a 

 snow-house and block for thermometers, constructed on 

 the floe level in October last, are now just even with 

 the surface snow, or the level of that of the snow-bank 

 of our port-beam, fourteen feet above the solid ice. As 

 the season advances, and the sea increases in tempera- 

 ture by the great amount of thaw beneath, the ice is re- 

 moved from the loiver surface, water percolates, and the 

 upper mass freezes; and, as a matter of course, things 

 which occupied the upper icy surface in October, must 

 be sought for beneath it in May. Those which float may 

 be recovered, but it may be possible that a pile of bottles, 

 owner unknown, may yet be extricated at the mouth of 

 Wellington Channel. In November I heard rumours of 

 such losses, and directed all tins and bottles to be re- 

 moved to the land, that no such accident should mislead 

 parties as to our fate. The hills have not been, so to 

 speak, snow-clad during this season: any strong breeze 

 denudes them, and the earth is in places ever visible. 



I cannot take leave of the month of March without 

 some remarks on its peculiar character. Of the early 

 part of the mouth, or first hah , I have already made my 

 extracts. From the 16th, the + sign prevails as high 

 as 24, the minimum being 18. This, by referring to 

 the comparative table of the two ' Hecla,' ' Enterprise,' 

 and ' Resolute' voyages, is contrary to precedent, no plus 

 sign occurring at all ! The following comparisons will 

 show the great peculiarity in this month : 



