OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



127 



which for some weeks past had been observed near the surface of the 



1 . October. 



sea. These insects were found to be still as numerous as ever in any ^v^' 

 hole we made in the ice ; and such was the extreme avidity with which 

 they immediately seized upon any meat put overboard, to thaw or 

 soak for the sake of freshness, that Captain Lyon to-day sent me a goose 

 to look at, belonging to the officers of the Hecla, that had been thus 

 deposited within their reach only eight and forty hours, and from which 

 they had eaten every ounce of meat, leaving only a skeleton most deli- 

 cately cleaned. Our men had before remarked that their meat suffered 

 unusual loss of substance by soaking, but did not know to what cause to 

 attribute the deficiency. We took advantage however of the hunger of 

 these depredators to procure complete skeletons of small animals, for pre- 

 servation as anatomical specimens, enclosing them in a net or bag with 

 holes, to which the shrimps could have access, but which prevented the 

 loss of any of the limbs, should the cartilage of the joints be eaten. For 

 want of this latter precaution some specimens were at first rendered im- 

 perfect. 



A thermometer placed in the sun at noon to-day stood at 32°, that in the 

 shade being at 5°. In the course of the afternoon I witnessed, for the 

 third time in my life, that peculiar and delicate colouring of the clouds 

 which I have endeavoured to describe in my narrative of the last voyage, on 

 the 16th and 29th of April, 1820. The red tint was, as on both those occa- 

 sions, nearest to the sun, and the clouds on which the colours were exhi- 

 bited were passing within four or five degrees of that object. 



We were occupied about this time in getting to hand in the holds the Wed. 17. 

 supply of provisions that would be required for the next six months, in 

 order to prevent the necessity of opening the hatches oftener than once a 

 week ; an arrangement which was found extremely conducive to the clean- 

 liness of the lower-deck, as well as to that of the men personally. While 

 doing this, the opportunity was taken to place all the lemon-juice, pickles, 

 cranberries, and any other articles liable to damage by frost, as nearly 

 amidships as possible. A single cask of lemon-juice was however left in 

 contact with the ship's side as an experiment, of which some account will 

 be given in another place. Mr. Hooper having exposed a portion of this 

 fluid to a low temperature on deck, observed it to congeal, when a ther- 

 mometer immersed in it stood at 25°, into a thick but soft consistence not 

 sufficiently solid to break a glass bottle. 



