i6 The Ottawa Naturalist. [April 



every evening the entire shore of the island north and south, from 

 end to end, is inspected. In bright weather this inspection is 

 made from the lookout by means of field glasses, but when, as 

 was almost always the case during our visit, a fog lies over the 

 land, the inspection must be made on horseback so that no 

 person could get wrecked upon the island and remain undiscover- 

 ed for more than about 12 hours. Immediately after the 

 completion of each inspection, a telephone message is sent 

 to the main station, reporting the result. A definite hour is 

 set for these reports, so that they are all sent in together. At 

 the time ot our visit this hour was half-past six in the morning, 

 and the same time in the evening ; but, of course, as the seasons 

 alter, these hours would need to be changed. 



The temperature, while not high is extremely stable. Our 

 visit lasted seven days, during which time the thermometer varied 

 only 21 degrees, namely, from 38*^ to ^q^ , the variation for each 

 day being only about 12*^ ; and the greatest daily variation we 

 experienced was only 170, from 42'^ to 59^. This was on May 22 

 which was a very warm, bright day. Fogs are of almost daily 

 occurrence, and while we had the good fortune to have sunshine 

 on three days of our seven, there was only one on which we did 

 not have fog, and on some we had nothing else. There is a 

 record of nine consecutive weeks of fog at about this time of the 

 year, but we were told that later on in the summer during August 

 and September, the weather was all that one could wish, and the 

 bright, warm days were exceedmgly enjoyable. 



As the inhabitants are all government employes, there is no 

 commerce on the island. All supplies have to be brought from 

 the mainland, and most of these are provided by the government, 

 which sends a vessel twice a year to supply the needs of the inhabi- 

 tants. Sometimes these visits are postponed as was the case in 

 October, iqoo, when it was found impossible to send supplies at 

 all ; and the boats which should have reached the island at 

 that time landed its cargo, after two attempts, in the month of 

 March. This delay caused a waste of 100 barrels of cranberries, 

 which had been picked for the market and which are about the 

 only agricultural export the island yields. 



