236 KETUEN TO THE ' FOX.' Chap. XII. 



before me in the breeze, tbe temperature at tbe 

 time being 60° below freezing point ! Petersen 

 informed me tbat slie was begging for a needle 

 for her child. I need not say I gave it one as 

 expeditiously as possible ; yet sufficient time 

 elapsed before the infant was again put out 

 of sight to alarm me considerably for its safety 

 in such a temperature. The natives, however, 

 seemed to think nothing of what looked to 

 me like cruel exposure of a naked baby. 



We now returned to the ship with all the 

 speed we could command ; but stormy weather 

 occasioned two days' delay, so that we did not 

 arrive on board until the 1 4th March. Though 

 considerably reduced in flesh, I and my compa- 

 nions were in excellent health, and blessed with 

 insatiable appetites. On washing our faces, 

 which had become perfectly black from the soot 

 of our blubber lamp, sundry scars, relics of frost- 

 ■ bites, appeared ; and the tips of om- fingers, 

 from constant frost-bites, had become as callous 

 as if seared with hot iron. 



In this journey of twenty-five days we tra- 

 velled 360 geographical miles (420 English), 

 and completed the discovery of the coast-line of 

 continental America, thereby adding about 120 

 miles to our charts. The mean temperature 

 throughout the journey was 30° below zero of 



