BEGINNING OF A HURRICANE. 133 



manner of living ; but the majority are well contented with more 

 simple yet durable attire, and toil on, winter and summer, with no 

 greater ambition, apparently, than to become the wife of some lazy 

 young man who can barely support himself, and who generally 

 succeeds finally in supporting neither himself nor her; but the 

 people are not all of this shiftless class, though so many of them 

 incline that way. 



This afternoon I gave away, with much reluctance, my thermom- 

 eter, with a promise exacted in return that an accurate series of 

 readings should be kept up four times a day throughout the winter. 

 The parties of course failed to keep their agreement. It is cold to- 

 day and freezing, with the wind northwest. 



Yesterday, and to-day (Thursday) the wind has continued north- 

 west. One of the boats at work on the wreck returned this morn- 

 ing with its mizzen-mast, a huge, iron-bound affair about seventy 

 feet in length, and together the men hauled it ashore, out of reach of 

 the water. It has been cold, cloudy, and threatening weather all day. 



Friday it snowed hard all day, and the wind began to blow very 

 fiercely, increasing in strength towards night, while the temperature 

 continued to fall. A snowstorm here is somewhat different from 

 one in the States. The snow begins to fall very moderate, while 

 the clouds gradually grow heavier and heavier, and the flakes fall 

 thicker and faster until the sight becomes so blinded that, dazzled 

 and bewildered, one can with difficulty distinguish objects a few 

 rods away only. It comes with a fierceness scarcely credible, and 

 a suddenness hardly less so ; while it will often clear up as quickly 

 as it came on. 



Saturday was a quiet day, but cold, with the storm and wind still 

 heavy, the latter freshening towards night. 



Sunday, Nov. the 21st. Last night about midnight the wind be- 

 gan to blow and the elements to war fiercely. This morning the 

 wind increased in violence, and spring tides rose to a greater 

 height than they had been seen before for a long time, and nearly 

 carried away the woodpile in front of the house : this is a large, 

 conical shaped pile of fir and larch sticks, each ten to thirty feet 



