OF THE POLAR SEA. 



173 



by chronometers 103° 13' 10" W. On the 5th of April we set out for 



the hunting tent by our former track, and arrived there in the 

 evening. 



As the increasing warmth of the weather had threatened to in- 

 terrupt communication by removing the ice, orders had been sent 

 from Cumberland House to the people at the tent, to quit it without 

 delay ; which we did on the 7 th. Some altitudes of the Aurora were 

 obtained, the results of which will be noticed elsewhere. 



We had a fine view, at sun-rise, of the Basquiau Hill, skirting 

 half the horizon with its white sides, chequered by forests of pine. 

 It is seen from Pine Island Lake, at the distance of fifty miles ; and 

 cannot, therefore, be less than three-fourths of a mile in perpen- 

 dicular height ; probably the greatest elevation between the Atlantic 

 Ocean, and the Rocky Mountains. 



A small stream runs near the hunting tent, strongly impregnated 

 with salt. There are several salt springs about it, which are not 

 frozen during the winter. 



The surface of the snow, thawing in the sun, and freezing at 

 night, had become a strong crust, which sometimes gave way in a 

 circle round our feet, immerging us in the soft snow beneath. The 

 people were afflicted with snow blindness ; a kind of ophthalmia oc- 

 casioned by the reflection of the sun's rays in the spring. 



The miseries endured during the first journey of this nature, are 

 so great, that nothing could induce the sufferer to undertake a 

 second, while under the influence of present pain. He feels his 

 frame crushed by unaccountable pressure, he drags a galling and 

 stubborn weight at his feet, and his track is marked with blood. 

 The dazzling scene around him affords no rest to his eye, no object 

 to divert his attention from his own agonizing sensations. When 

 he rises from sleep, half his body seems dead, till quickened into 

 feeling by the irritation of his sores. But, fortunately for him, no 

 evil makes an impression so evanescent as pain. It cannot be wholly 





