l899-'00 TRANSACTIONS 51 



of three months' , over 2,000 hours, duration fell upon the two 

 ships. Parry, to give amusement and at the same time edification, 

 established a weekly paper, a theatre and a school, an example 

 followed by later winterers in those regions. The paper was 

 edited by Capt. Sabine, the eminent observer, and was called the 

 "North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle." It may have 

 been a spicy journal, but I doubt if it had a "Frills" or an 

 "Inez," to chronicle the doings and dresses of society's dames 

 and damsels. The editor certainl}^ had no news from far off 

 lands. The Duke of Richmond, Governor- General of Canada, 

 had a short time before died of hydrophobia in a barn near 

 Ottawa and his remains had been buried with great pomp and 

 ceremony in Quebec. England was seething and bubbling over 

 with riots and outrages in its manufacturing districts ; starv- 

 ing agricultural laborers were burning hay ricks and her people 

 were migrating to Canada aud other countries by thousands. 

 But of these Editor Sabine knew nothing and therefore could tell 

 his readers nothing. He could tell them of the pale bright light 

 of the moon, of occasional paraselenas, of the brilliant splendour 

 of the Auroras, the constant presence of stars and the meteoric 

 flash of aerolites andTother celestial appearances, rather than of 

 mundane matters. Possibly many a good story of thrilling in- 

 terest was gathered from reminiscent Jack Tars, and many a 

 witty paragraph evolved from the surroundings. The Prince of 

 Darkness may have received special attention, for the region 

 must have seemed his special realm, with darkness on the face of 

 the land and the icy lanes. 



The Theatre Royal opened with the play of "Miss in Her 

 Teens" on the 5th of November, the same da}^ the sun sank be- 

 neath the horizon not to rise again for nearlj^ three tedious 

 months. The fur-coated, yet very cold, audience sat it out and 

 enjoyed it, for it is written "that when the actors advanced and 

 hurrahed for old England, the whole audience with one accord 

 rose and gave three of the heartiest cheers I have ever heard. 

 In May following Parry undertook a journey across Melville 

 Island and records that "the soil was in most cases barren, with 

 occasional pieces of coal embedded in sandstone, but on the 

 western coast vegetation was more abundant and game more 

 plentiful." 



