OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



151 



a southerly wind, which they attributed with great probability to the smell 1822 - 

 of the ships being thus more extensively communicated over the island. J ^i^2! 

 One or two of these poor creatures had been found in the traps with their 

 tongues almost bitten in two. The traps made use of for catching these beau- 

 tiful little animals were formed of a small cask, having a sliding door like 

 that of a common mouse-trap, and were baited with oiled meat or blubber. 

 The whole number caught during the winter was between eighty and ninety, 

 of which more than seventy were taken before the end of December. In a 

 single trap of Captain Lyon's, no less than fifteen were caught in the course 

 of four hours, on the night of the 25th of November ; and the people en- 

 gaged in Watching the trap remarked that no sooner had one of these ani- 

 mals been taken out, and they themselves retired a few yards, than ano- 

 ther entered it. So stupid indeed are they in this respect that, in seve- 

 ral instances, those which had escaped from the ships entered, and were 

 re-caught in the same traps as before. 



Of a great number of foxes weighed by Captain Lyon during the winter, 

 the average weight was eight pounds, but they varied from nine and a half 

 to seven, and he observed that the males, though larger than the females, 

 were not so fat. The fur of the whole of them when first caught was of 

 the purest white, except in two or three individuals of a bluish colour, 

 which appeared to be of a different species. The great variety of dis- 

 positions displayed by those which were kept for taming was very re- 

 markable, some being gentle and quiet from the time of their first coming 

 on board, and others remaining wild and intractable in spite of every 

 kindness and good treatment. Our dogs became familiar enough even to 

 play with them ; but the foxes Ave re, on their part, never entirely free from 

 apprehension on this account. The noise they make when irritated is a 

 weak half-stifled sort of bark, but they have also a more shrill and piercing 

 cry when much frightened. When placed with their houses upon the ice, 

 they were constantly endeavouring to burrow in the snow within the circle 

 of their chains, and one of them, where the snow lay deeper than usual, 

 soon formed for himself a secure and sheltered apartment under it. When 

 deprived of the means of doing this, they are far from being proof against 

 the severity of the season, for two or three died on board the Fury entirely 

 from this cause,, though furnished with good kennels. Of those which, were 

 taken better care of, not one remained onboard alive when we went to 

 sea, the greater part having gradually wasted away, though well fed and 



