174^. MOOR AND SMITH. 291 



Ellis observes, that the difference was so great be- 

 tween the cold without and the heated huts w^ithin, 

 that persons, on entering the latter, frequently 

 fainted, and remained apparently lifeless for some 

 time; that if a door or window was but opened, the 

 cold air rushed in with great fury, and turned the 

 vapour, inclosed within the hut, into a snow^ shower. 

 The alternate freezing and thawing of the juices 

 of the logs caused them to split with a noise little 

 inferior to the report of a musket. Spirits of wine 

 did not freeze into ice, but became of the consist- 

 ence of oil. The different kinds of game, which 

 they procured between November and April, kept 

 easily in a frozen state for any length of time with- 

 out the use of salt. When any part of the human 

 body was frozen, it became hard and white like ice, 

 but by rubbing the part with a warm hand it went 

 off in a blister; if left alone the part mortified. 

 Extreme cold appeared to have pretty nearly the 

 same effect as extreme heat, and required nearly 

 the same treatment : of the absolute degree of cold 

 Mr. Ellis cannot speak, as they took out but one 

 thermometer, which was broken before they 

 reached the ice. It is noted, in manuscript, in the 

 margin of the copy of Mr. Ellis's book from 

 which this abstract is taken, *' that the greatest 

 degree of cold observed (by the writer) at 

 Churchill was 45° below the cypher of Fahrenheit's 

 scale." The effects of the cold are sufficiently re- 

 markable—'' If we touch iron," says Mr. Ellis. 



u £ 



