August 1 6, 1883] 



NA TURE 



37i 



Edentates. The important fa:t has recently been deter- 

 mined that some of these tracks show impressions of the 

 fore feet. The 1 itter are somewhat outside of the large 

 footprints, as would naturally be the case if the animal 

 changed its course. O. C. Marsh 



WINTER LIFE A T FORT RAE 



TT was not until the beginning of December that our 

 ■^ winter really set in, but when it did so there was no mis- 

 take about it, as the 1st of the month began with the thermo- 

 meter at — 34 , and except for some mild weather at 

 Christmas, the cold continued through that month. 

 January was colder still, the thermometer once or twice 

 approaching - 50°, but in the early part of February a 

 violent storm was accompanied by a remarkable rise of 

 temperature (to -(-20 c ),and followed by some mild weather, 

 since which the thermometer has again fallen, reaching 

 — 39 a couple of days ago. 



This, however, 1 am informed by the inhabitants, is the 

 mildest winter that has been known for many yeirs, and 

 I have no doubt <that a temperature of -6o° is not 

 uncommon in severe winters. 



It is strange how much less one feels this extreme cold 

 than might be imagined. For the first day or two it was 

 unpleasant, but after that the syste n seemed to accom- 

 modate itself to it, so that a day when the temperature 

 was anywhere above - 15" felt quite warm and pleasant. 

 To-day, for instance, 1 am writing with my window open, 

 although the thermometer is several degrees below zero, 

 and there is a light breeze. There have been days, it is 

 true, when — with the thermometer near -30°, and a 

 strong breeze blowing, tilling the air with snowdrift like a 

 dense fog — outdoor exercise was most unpleasant, pro- 

 bably resulting in a frozen face, but such days were not 

 very numerous, a strong wind, even from the cold quarter 

 (the north-west), sending the temperature up in a way 

 that I cannot quite account for. 



Now the climate reminds me of Davos Platz, the sun 

 having considerable power ; there is, however, more wind. 

 Yesterday the black bulb in vacuo read 82°. The only 

 drawback is the intense glare from the snow, which 

 makes coloured spectacles a necessity. 



During the first part of the winter we were a little 

 anxious about food, not that we were in any danger of 

 starvation, as the Indians had briught in quantities of 

 dried meat in the autumn, but dried meat is a most 

 unpalatable article of diet, and requires strong teeth and 

 a strong digestion ; and then the fishery was not as pro- 

 ductive as usual, and the daily produce of the nets (which 

 are set under the ice) was gradually diminishing. At 

 last, however, the deer made their appearance some forty 

 miles from this, and since then our supplies of fresh meat 

 have come in regularly. Rabbits, too, have lately become 

 most numerous. These animals are the great resource of 

 the Indians in times of scarcity, but they are not always 

 plentiful. They are said to attain their maximum once in 

 ten years, when they seem to suffer from a disease which 

 shows itself in lumps on their heads ; the following year 

 there is hardly a rabbit to be seen, and then they gra- 

 dually increase for another ten years. 



The winter has passed very uneventfully. On November 

 17 and two or three following days there were magnetic 

 disturbances of great violence, due, no doubt, to the large 

 sunspot. The displays of aurora at that time, however, 

 were not of any remarkable brilliancy ; we have had far 

 brighter ones since, with far less magnetic disturbance. 

 But as a rule the auroras have not been remarkable, 

 though a night seldom or never passes without more or 

 less — the brilliant coloured ones one reads about are 

 conspicuous by their absence. For the most part they 

 are all of the same yellowish colour, showing the single 

 characteristic bright line in the spectroscope, but a bright 

 aurora usually shows more or less prismatic colouring 



along the lower edge, with a spectrum sometimes of one 

 or two additional bright lines, as a rule towards the violet 

 end of the spectrum, though on one occasion I observed 

 a bright band in the red. 



Aurora is very rarely seen until night has quite set in, 

 but on three occasions we have seen it shortly after sun- 

 set, and on these occasions it was of a reddish or copper 

 colour, as though partly coloured by the sun's light ; it 

 must, I think, have been associated with thin cloud. Its 

 motion and shape showed it to be aurora. 



The terrestrial radiation therinometer placed on the 

 snow generally showed a depression of from io D to 20° on 

 every calm, clear day throughout the winter, even by day 

 when sheltered from the sun. The lowest re idings were, 

 as might be expected, with the dry north-west wind. 

 Sometimes the first warning of an impending change of 

 wind to the south-east was given by a rise of this thermo- 

 meter before the barometer was affected. 



A thermometer suspended on the outer wall of the 

 observatory at times read <f or io' lower than one in the 

 screen, owing to radiation, and I think that the common 

 practice of exposing unsheltered thermometers may ex- 

 plain some of the low temperatures sometimes reported 

 from this country. 



Our daily routine of observations goes on very regu- 

 larly. Lately wolves have taken to prowling about the 

 neighbourhood, and thj observer on duty goes to visit 

 the thermometers armed with a huge club ; of course a 

 gun or axe cannot be allowed near the observatory on 

 account of the magnetic instruments. 



A remarkable epidemic of influenza made its appear- 

 ance here in January. We first heard of it among the 

 Indians far to the north-west of this. When it arrived 

 here it attacked every soul in the place — Indians and 

 whites — fortunately in a very mild form, and we hear that 

 Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie, suffered in the same 

 way. Such an occurrence is most unusual in this 

 country. With this exception we have all enjoyei good 

 health. 



We expect the ice to break up about the middle of 

 June, and then will come the reign of the mosquitoes, 

 which make the summer the most disagreeable season of 

 the year in this couutry. Fortunately they do not last 

 long in this latitude, and by the end of August, when we 

 set out on our homeward journey, they will be over. 



Fort Rae, March 25 Henry P. Dawson 



THE NORWEGIAN NORTH-SEA 

 ■ EXPEDITION ' 

 II. 

 T^vR. MOHN continues his description of Jan Mayen 

 ^—* Island as follows : — 



"The northern part of Jan Mayen is larger and more 

 elevated than the southern. From its central tract towers 

 the monarch of the island, Mount Beerenberg, an ex- 

 tinct volcano, rising in regal majesty to the height of 

 6400 feet. The crater measures 4360 feet in diameter 

 The upper cone, which shelves at an angle of 42 and 

 attains an altitude of about 2000 feet, would, to judge from 

 the black spots so conspicuous on its western declivity, 

 appear to be composed of ashes. The base supporting 

 the cone slopes out in every direction at an angle of from 

 8 to 10 degrees, and this incline is retained towards the 

 north and east to a depth of at least 1000 fathoms beneath 

 the sea-level. The edge of the crater has a jagged appear- 

 ance, and the loftiest peak lies on the west side of the 

 mountain Towards the north the wall of the crater has 

 partially given way down to a height of from 600 to 700 

 feet. The depression thus formed extends northwards 

 towards the north coast of the island, bounded on either 

 side by diverging mountain ridges, that here and there 

 project ledge-like one above the other. This is Beeren- 



1 Concluded from p. ^50* 



