186 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



March ^ 6 * ia( * n0W succee d e d in taking the last wolf in a trap, the Esquimaux 

 \^r»J having caught two, and the other eleven having been entrapped or shot near 

 the ships. The natives were greatly relieved by the extirpation of these 

 ravenous animals which were constantly alarming them at the huts ; and we 

 were ourselves not sorry to have got rid of them so soon. 

 Thur. 7. On the 7th the wind got round from north to south-west and increased to a 

 strong gale from that quarter, which continued without intermission and with 

 almost constant snow the whole of the 8th. It was remarkable that the mer- 

 cury in the barometer was stationary at 30.31 inches for eight hours on the 

 night of the 7th and the morning of the 8th, though the wind had then been 

 blowing strong for more than half a day. The thermometer again rose to +2° 

 this morning. 



To ascertain the thickness of the ice formed in the bay since the close of 

 the last autumn, a hole was dug in a part where no separation had taken place 

 since the commencement of the winter's frost, and where in fact we had seen 

 it commence. The thickness of the floe was here four feet seven inches, 

 being the produce of exactly five calendar months. The ice was hard, brittle, 

 and transparent till within six or eight inches of the lower surface, where it 

 became soft and porous, allowing the water to filter slowly through it. 



The Esquimaux were fortunate in killing another walrus which we met them 

 dragging in high spirits towards the village. They usually divide these huge 

 animals on the spot into four or five parts, each of which with its proportion 

 of the intestines is sewn up so as to resemble a seal at a little distance. Four 

 or five dogs, if they have them at hand, are fastened to each of these, and the 

 man who attends them frequently rides home upon it as on a sledge. 



Sat. 9. The wind moderated on the 9th, but continued from the south-west, and a 

 great deal of snow fell. The mildness of the weather (the thermometer having 

 got as high as + 13°) continued to incommode the natives in their huts 

 more and more, and severe coughs and catarrhs were still epidemic among 

 them. Some of the women had quite lost their voices, and almost every indi- 

 vidual was more or less a sufferer from the constant dripping of water from 

 the roofs of their apartments. 



Sun. 10. On the evening of the 10th, while I was sitting in my cabin, the door opened 

 gently and in walked Toolooak, who very unceremoniously seated himself on 

 the opposite side of the table, and soon began to display not only his usual 

 good humour, but a degree of archness for which we had before scarcely given 

 him credit. As a specimen of this, though by no means the only one with 



