OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 189 



the Esquimaux, with any hope of success, to our scheme of their conveying .l^'^^- 

 letters to the Hudson's Bay settlements. >-»-y-^ 



On the 13th and 14th, the weather was extremely mild, the thermometer 

 getting as high as +9;,°; and as this took place with a north-west wind, which 

 was usually the coldest, we began to flatter ourselves that the spring was now 

 indeed advancing by rapid strides. On the evening of the 14th, though the 

 thermometer was no higher than +4°, the atmosphere had a degree of softness 

 in it so pleasant to our sensations that, as one of the quarter-masters not un- 

 naturally however unphilosophically remarked, " it felt exactly as if it was 

 going to rain " — a phenomenon, however, that was not so near as we then 

 expected. This apparent turn in the season induced me to allow Captain 

 Lyon to put in execution a plan he had proposed, of going out with his in- 

 tended party for one day, for the double purpose of affording them a little 

 practice, and of ascertaining the breadth and nature of the channel which he 

 would have to cross on the ice, in order to reach the main land. As the plan 

 of the journey partly depended upon this, I agreed to his proposal of setting 

 out for this purpose on the following day, taking with him a tent, blankets 

 and provisions for three days in case of accidents. 



At seven A.M. on the l.iJth, Captain Lyon and his party left the ships ; Frid. 15. 

 the thermometer being as high as zero, and a moderate breeze blowing 

 from the northward though accompanied by considerable snow-drift ; an 

 annoyance which it now required much less strength of wind to create than 

 at the commencement of the winter, owing to the snow having become 

 more minute. From the very hour of Captain Lyon's departure the ther- 

 mometer began to fall rapidly, and the wind to increase ; till at midnight 

 the former had reached —32° and a hard gale blew from the north-west; 

 upon the whole it proved one of the most inclement nights for people to be 

 exposed to, that we had experienced in our present quarters, and therefore 

 created in our minds the most alarming apprehensions for the safety of our 

 travellers. It is scarcely less difficult to imagine than to describe the con- 

 trast between exposure to all the horrors of such tremendous inclemency, 

 and the fireside comforts we on board were enjoying. In this climate more 

 frequently than in any other does the mind turn to the 



Poor naked wretclies, wheresoe'er they be. 

 That bide the pehing of tlie pitiless storm. 



But now that some of our own companions were thus exposed, the idea came 



