OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 387 



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wind, more than three miles distant from the land, and a dark water-sky con- ^'^'^^: 



. . Decemb. 



tinned accurately to define its position and extent. v-^rv/ 



From the time of our first arrival here in the autumn, the Esquimaux had 

 been in the habit of catching foxes upon the west point of the bay, called by 

 them Arngnct-ko-ek-seat. The traps used for this purpose were extremely 

 simple and ingenious, and to us quite new. They consisted of a small cir- 

 cular arched hut of stones, having a square aperture at the top, but quite 

 close and secure in every other part. This aperture is closed by some blades 

 of whalebone which, though in reality only fixed to the stones at one end, 

 appear to form a secure footing, especially when the deception is assisted by 

 a little snow laid on them. The bait is so placed that the animal must come 

 upon this platform to get at it, when the latter (unable to bear the weight) 

 bends downwards, and after precipitating the fox into the trap, which is made 

 too deep to allow of his escape, returns by its elasticity to the former posi- 

 tion, so that several may thus be caught successively. The Hecla being near 

 the point, Mr. ^logg was much in the habit of accompanying the Esquimaux 

 to their traps, and remarked that the foxes were very numerous till about 

 the end of November, when they began to fall off in number, and the traps 

 were less regularly visited than before. A few were however taken in the 

 month of December, towards the end of which many of the traps were neg- 

 lected, and allowed to fill up with drift. In the early part of January the rest 

 were dismantled, but Mr. Mogg caught two after this ; one on the 2.3d of 

 January, being a male of a bluish cast, with the tips of its ears and tail 

 black ; the other a female larger than the former and beautifully white, taken 

 on the 13th of February. Their weight was eight and eight and a half 

 pounds, and the temperatures of their bodies when just killed 100g° and 

 100°. The foregoing account of the time when these animals were most 

 abundant, agrees with what we had before observed at Winter-Island, and 

 Mr. Mogg considered their number to have been here fully as great. Some 

 of the Esquimaux were thus furnished with outer jackets of fox-skins with 

 the fur outside, forming a remarkably clean, comfortable, and handsome-look- 

 , ing costume, though the material is by no means a durable one. 



The first week of the new year brought a continuance of cold weather; i82;j. 

 after which, for the succeeding fortnight, the temperature was remarkably ■'*""*'■>■ 

 high, the thermometer frequently rising above zero, and once to + 22°, which 

 occurred with a fresh easterly breeze and some snow falling. An inspection 

 of our Meteorological Abstracts will shew that in this as in every other part 



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