1854.] RAIN AT MELVILLE ISLAND. 157 



summer June, July, and August very mild weather ; 

 an unusual quantity of rain, but little wind. 



" It rained in June on 5 days : 9 hours hard, 24 rain, 6 drizzle. 

 July 11 33 57 



August 6 6 49 



Now it is very strange, with so insignificant a differ- 

 ence in latitude, that I cannot call to mind any instance 

 of positive rain. Had any such visitation occurred, our 

 tents would inevitably have been frozen, and therefore 

 I think I may safely assert that we had none. At our 

 hottest period, when the heat within the tent was termed 

 dreadful, the thermometer, in free air, on an elevated 

 cliff, and suspended four feet above the earth, indicated 

 24. Under such circumstances, any falling moisture 

 would assume the character of snow. Indeed we did 

 not experience any temperature which would afford a 

 flow of water from the snow until late in June, at which 

 period the floe traversed by Commander Richards, about 

 a degree to the southward, was very sludgy. Rain would 

 have set our valley courses and rivers in motion, but no- 

 thing of this nature met our notice during the season of 

 1853. 



A very unfortunate accident occurred to Mr. Roche, 

 the second to Lieutenant Hamilton, shortly after leaving 

 the ' Resolute.' He was in the act of withdrawing his 

 fowling-piece from the sledge, when it went off, passing 

 the ball through the thick portion of the thigh, but with- 

 out injury to the arteries. He was immediately taken 

 back to the ship, and Mr. Court, Master of the ' Investi- 

 gator/ took his place. 



