1854.] CONSTITUTIONS IMPAIRED BY CLIMATE. 159 



manifestly leads to the support of my principle : fresh 

 blood for every department but the Commanders of ves- 

 sels. The service itself injures the Profession ; habits 

 are indulged in which are not easily thrown aside ; and 

 the approximation to the freedom of the whaler is too 

 close to prove pleasant to those who endeavour to main- 

 tain a service discipline. 



" Those are not the boots they came down to ask our 

 opinion on" very glibly oozed from the mouth of one of 

 the Arctic seamen of last cruise. 



My return despatches being complete, and a gale, 

 which commenced on the arrival of Lieutenant Hamil- 

 ton, abated, he quitted us, on his homeward route, on the 

 3rd of April, attended by a considerable rise of tempera- 

 ture and a fine cheering sun. 



The completion of March furnishing a fair compara- 

 tive range of the cold for this season, I have therefore 

 thrown them into a tabular form, from which I have 

 reason to infer that we have already enjoyed our mini- 

 mum allowance of cold, as compared with previous voy- 

 agers. Some indeed there are who would contend that 

 Arctic seasons are gradually becoming milder, but no 

 such assertion is tenable under the evidence which we 

 have been able to collect. 



In a former place I alluded to ranges over the months 

 October to June, both inclusive, as establishing very 

 nearly a mean of 10' 00, but within that period were 

 many -f- signs. I have therefore on this season adopted 

 the five coldest months, and classed them in the order 

 of the different Expeditions, commencing with Sir Ed- 

 ward Parry at Winter Harbour, Melville Island. 



