122 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 



woods, than a blanket and deer-skin, with the thermom- 

 eter frequently at 40, and once at 57, and some- 

 times passing two or three days without tasting food." 



Franklin gives the following statement in regard to 

 the severity of the weather in December : " The weathe 

 during this month was the coldest we experienced dur- 

 ing our residence in America. The thermometer sank 

 on one occasion to 57 below zero, and never rosa 

 beyond 6 above it ; the mean for the month was 

 29-7. During these intense colds, however, the 

 atmosphere was generally calm, and the wood-cutters 

 and others went about their ordinary occupations with- 

 out using any extraordinary precautions, yet without 

 feeling any bad effects. The heat is abstracted most 

 rapidly from the body during strong breezes ; and most 

 of those who have perished from cold in this country 

 have fallen a sacrifice to their being overtaken on a, 

 lake, or other unsheltered place, by a storm of wind. 

 The intense colds were, however, detrimental to us in 

 another way. The trees froze to their very centres, and 

 became as hard as stones, and more difficult to cut. 

 Some of the axes were broken daily, and by the end of 

 the month we had only one left that was fit for felling 

 trees. " 



The aurora borealis made its appearance frequently, 

 with more or less brilliancy, but was not particularly 

 remarkable ; in the month of December it was visible 

 twenty-eight of the long nights. 



The Indians, it appears, have nearly destroyed the 

 fur-bearing animals ; and so scarce is the bea\er become, 

 that in the whole journey to the shores of the Polar Sea 

 and back, one single habitation, and one dam only, of 

 that industrious and ingenious creature, were met with. 

 Among the many interesting anecdotes that have beert 

 told of this a'aimal, Dr. Richardson relates the following : 



