in the Temperature of Winter. 33 



A ship from Bristol entered Boston Bay in January 

 1637, and by stress of weather was driven into Plym- 

 outh harbor. 



In 1638, on the 13th of January old stile, [the 24th] 

 Boston harbor was open ; for thirty men went down to 

 Spectacle Island to cut wood. A snow storm arose, in 

 the following night, after that the wind was at N. W. 

 for two days, and then, says Governor Winthrop, " it 

 froze so hard, as the bay was all frozen up, except a 

 little channel." By this opening twelve of the men got 

 to the Governor's garden ; others escaped on the ice. 

 Of this winter the Governor writes, " This was a very 

 hard winter. The snow lay from November 4, [15th] 

 to March 23d [April 3d] one and an half yard deep 

 about the Massachusetts," h.Q,....See pages 146, 154. 

 Let it be observed, that in this " very hard winter," Bos- 

 ton harbor was open till the 24th of January. 



A^ote....lY\ page 154, it is said this was in 1637. But 

 it is immaterial. 



The winter of 1641 — 2 was one of the most rigorous 

 kind, like that of 1709, 1741 and 1780. It froze the 

 bay at Boston as far out at sea as the eye could reach ; 

 loaded sleds passed from Muddy River to Boston. All 

 the rivers in Virginia, and even Chesopeak Bay, were 

 covered with ice. These things are recorded by Gov- 

 ernor Winthrop as extraordinary occurrences^ such as 

 passing on the ice from Fullen's Point and Muddy River 

 to Boston — a proof that the several frosts supposed by 

 Dr. Williams were not annual events. And the Indians 

 declared that a like winter had not happened in forty 

 years preceding. 



The next winter was milder than usual, and the win- 

 ter following there was " little rain and no snow till 

 March y\..JFinthrop, p. 240, 269, 324. 



In an account of the Natives of New- England, written 

 by Governor Winslow, and annexed to Dr. Belknap's 

 2d vol. of American Biography, we have the following 

 description of the climate of New- England, in 1624 : — 

 " For the temperature of the air, in almost three years 

 experience, I can scarce distinguish New- England frojii 



F 



