1854.] A CLEVER WOLF. 127 



periods which he happens to select for his winter excur- 

 sions are those on which our lowest temperatures were 

 experienced. This is highly important, as confirmatory 

 of the frequently asserted theory of the maintenance of 

 heat, or rather of a milder temperature, in snow-houses. 

 He may therefore be supposed to have endured in his 

 travels at least 50 to 55 below zero (external atmo- 

 sphere) in January and February (when we experienced 

 it as low as 58 and 63), without, as far as I can 

 learn, complaining ! 



March 1 . Frequent allusion to the visit of a wolf has 

 been made in these pages. In their natural state doubt- 

 less wolves possess cunning, but this individual seems to 

 have profited by his repeated visits, and had so far be- 

 come familiarized with our clogs that they have accom- 

 panied him, her, or it, and been wounded in their quar- 

 rels. These visits, however, prejudiced our chances of 

 obtaining hares, ptarmigan, or even bears ; and the in- 

 genuity of our keenest sportsmen was taxed, either to 

 shoot him from the ship, or induce him to commit an act 

 of felo de se, by the interposition of a delicate morceau 

 attached to a double-barrelled spring gun. For some 

 nights he has been eagerly watched, and last night the 

 report of the gun announced, as every one thought, his 

 destruction, and to our imagination, from the proximity 

 of the bait to the muzzle of the piece, at least headless ; 

 but he proved too cunning. He had abstracted the bait 

 by a side motion, and this morning was noticed on the 

 hill astern, narrowly watching the proceedings of those 

 engaged in further schemes for his destruction, exult- 

 ing possibly in his superior intellect. Jack, with his 



