56 Out North Land. 



the understanding that he was to do that little only when driven to 

 it, contrary to instructions, to receive orders from every one, and to 

 obey no one, to enjoy knocks and kicks and slaps, and to amuse 

 himself with abuse ; to hide away with the slightest prospect of his 

 being wanted ; to steal everything he can lay his hands on ; to keep 

 himself as ragged and dirty as possible, and to sit cross-legged on 

 the top-gallant yard in a gale to amuse the sailors. Supposing him 

 to have been engaged for these purposes, Johnny filled the position, 

 varied as it was, to perfection. During the whole of our voyage I 

 did not observe him to laugh, or even smile, except at receiving a 

 kick or a cuff. That he had come to a state of training in which 

 abuse was a matter of solid comfort to him, while on the other hand 

 words of praise and commendation were an abomination, there can 

 be no question. 



We whiled away the time of Sunday and Monday, until Tuesday 

 morning, the best we could. Being continually in the fog the con- 

 versation naturally turned in that direction. We discovered the 

 causes, or thought we did, in the comparative temperatures of the 

 air and water, and finally came to the conclusion, which we considered 

 generous, that owing to the confluence at the entrance to Hudson 

 Strait of the cold water from Baffin's Bay and the warmer water 

 from Hudson's Bay, fogs were produced ; and that in the Strait where 

 these conditions do not exist, fogs do not occur. 



The fog went with the darkness of Tuesday morning, and we 

 renewed our course toward Cape Chidley, sighting land at eight 

 o'clock. At twelve o'clock, noon, we were steaming through Grey's 

 Strait, between the Button Islands and Cape Chidley, looking for 

 a harbour. It had been decided, for some reason, to place station No. 1 

 on the mainland, therefore no effort was made to secure an anchorage 

 on either of the islands. At one o'clock we had turned the Cape, 

 and were moving toward Ungava Bay. 



We had on every hand many evidences of the high latitude of 

 our position. Besides the low temperature were the barren rocks, 

 and the numerous large patches of snow, which, whenever we 

 approached the land, were visible on the high rocky coast. 



As we neared the rocks of the main shore, just round the cape, 



