5842 Notes on a Passage, fyc. 



made fast to the field of ice, viz., a moth, which I dug out of the ice. 

 It was about three inches below the surface, and had evidently fallen 

 there, and then thawed its way in, as any substance will do. 



There is always plenty of fresh water to be found on the ice 

 in pools, and these ships always calculate on filling up their tanks 

 from such sources. 



Since we got well into Hudson's Bay there have been no birds, 

 save what I took for a skua (Lestris) at a distance to-day ; nor 

 have we yet come to any ice, excepting a few scattered pieces. The 

 region of the large " bergs " is neither here nor in Hudson's Strait, 

 but outside in Davis's Strait, down which they come from the far 

 North. We saw some of all sizes, from 150 feet above water and of 

 great extent, down to the smallest pieces. * * * We have been 

 as high as latitude 63° 8' N., and have been able to read a book 

 clearly without the moon all night. 



York Factory, Hudson's Bay, 

 August 20. 



After knocking about in the ice for two days and a half, we arrived 

 here on the 9th of August ; and, as I was some days on board before 

 disembarking, I amused myself with several trips to the " mud flats" 

 during low water, where I shot a few sandpipers and gulls. 



York Factory is composed of a number of stores, dwelling-houses, 

 &c, enclosed with palisading in form of a square of 200-yard sides. 

 It is situate on a point of land between two rivers, and this point is 

 covered with scrub spruce, poplar, aspen, and other trees and shrubs, 

 and is of a very boggy nature. * * * The extremes of heat and 

 cold are experienced to a great degree, and suddenness of change in 

 the weather is a feature in the climate, caused, no doubt, by the great 

 quantity of ice which remains all the summer in Hudson's Bay. 

 Mosquitoes and other flies swarm in summer, but by this time they 

 have thinned off considerably. 



Stormy weather has commenced, but I expect that we shall have 

 better weather as we proceed inland, which, however, will most likely 

 be slow work, on account of the low state of the water in the rivers 

 flowing this way, caused by the unusually dry and hot summer 

 which has been experienced here this year ; in fact, I am told by 

 those who have been in the country for many years that this is the 

 driest summer they have ever known. 



I have been very hospitably entertained at the Fort since my arri- 

 val. The officers of the Company and people on their way up the 



