18 NORTHERN REGION. 



being fern and moss, which was so wet that it would not 

 burn, while he was almost without fire, or any means of 

 obtaining warmth, his men sinking knee-deep as they pro- 

 ceeded on shore in the soft slush and snow, which benumbed 

 their limbs and dispirited them in the extreme. Through 

 this country the unhappy remnant of the Franklin expedition, 

 many years later, perished in their attempt to reach the 

 Hudson Bay Company's territory. Here, in winter, the ther- 

 mometer sinks 70° below zero. Even within his hut, when he 

 had succeeded in lighting a fire, Back could not get it higher 

 than 1 2° below zero. Ink and paint froze. The sextant cases, 

 and boxes of seasoned wood — principally fir — all split; the 

 skin of the hands became dried, cracked, and opened into un- 

 sightly and smarting gashes ; and on one occasion, after washing 

 his hands and face within three feet of the fire, his hair was 

 actually clotted with ice before he had time to dry it. The 

 hunters described the sensation of handling their guns as 

 similar to that of touching red-hot iron ; and so excessive was 

 the pain, that they were obliged to wrap thongs of leather 

 round the triggers to prevent their fingers coming in contact 

 with the steel. Numbers of the Indian inhabitants of the 

 country perish from cold and hunger every year — indeed, it 

 seems wonderful that human beings should attempt to live in 

 such a country; yet much further north, the hardy Esquimaux, 

 subsisting on whale's blubber and seal's flesh, contrives to 

 support life in tolerable comfort. 



To the south of the Arctic Circle stunted fir-trees begin to 

 appear, and at length grow so thickly, that it is with diffi- 

 culty a passage can be made amid them. Frequently the 

 explorer has to clamber over fallen trees, through rivulets, 

 bogs, and swamps, till often the difficulties in the way 



