OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE. 137 



1821 



than this was noticed at seven A.M. on the 20th, by the officer of the watch, Deeemb 

 namely, that the moon in rising liad assumed the appearance of two. On '-^'"^" 

 hearing this I went on deck, and saw an inverted image of the moon below 

 and nearly touching that luminary, which was about half a degree high at the 

 time, thus : 



Mr. Scallon told mc that the image had at iirst been as distinct as the moon 

 itself, and it was nearly so when I saw it. This phenomenon continued 

 about five minutes, the barometer being 29.48, and the thermometer 20°, 

 with very clear weather at the time. 



A white hare was seen on shore on the 5th, as were two or three others in 

 the course of the winter. It is difficult to conceive how these animals find 

 subsistence while the snow lies deep on the ground, unless indeed they 

 become in a certain degree torpid during the winter. At Melville Island, 

 where in the summer they were found in considerable numbers, we never 

 saw one, nor even the track of one, before the month of June. 



The wind freshened from the S.E. at night, and blew a gale from that Thur. 6. 

 quarter all the following day, the thermometer keeping up to about zero as 

 usual, with the wind in that direction. 



At the time of sunset, this afternoon, and for half an hour afterwards, Mon. 10. 

 the sky exhibited a beautiful red colour near the southern horizon, and a 

 soft rich purple to the northward. A great deal of clear water was 

 observed in the offing, and at night, a dark water sky hung over it. 

 This appearance was darker, and served better to define the exact ex- 

 tent of the open water during the winter nights than I ever saw it under 

 any other circumstances, probably in consequence of the uninterrupted 

 whiteness of every other object. The cold increased to — 27° once more 

 at midnight on the 10th, as indicated by the thermometer on the ice, but the 

 ships continued warm and comfortable. A register-thermometer kept near 

 the chronometers in the book-cases of the cabin indicated in general a 



