SECOND VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 



223 



CHAPTER IX. 



INCREASED EXTENT OF OPEN WATER IN THE OFFING A TRAVELLING-PARTY DE- 

 SPATCHED TO THE NORTHWARD UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO RAISE VEGETABLES ON 



'i 



SHORE — DECEASE OF JAMES PRINGLE A PARTY OF ESQUIMAUX BUILD HUTS NEAR 



THE SHIPS RETURN OF THE TRAVELLERS, AND ACCOUNT OF THEIR JOURNEY FIRST 



APPEARANCE OF THE PLANTS — BIRDS BECOME NUMEROUS COMMENCE CUTTING A 



CANAL THROUGH THE ICE FOR LIBERATING THE SHIPS ILLNESS AND DECEASE OF 



JOHN REID AND WILLIAM SOUTER BREAKING-UP OF THE ICE IN THE BAY ACCOUNT 



OF WINTER ISLAND ABSTRACT OF OBSERVATIONS MADE THERE. 



For the last three weeks of the month of April the mean daily temperature 1822. 

 of the atmosphere had continued rather above zero, and after the 2d of May J^%L; 

 the thermometer permanently continued above that point of the scale ; in Wed ' L 

 which respect we were just a fortnight in advance of the summer of 1820 at 

 Melville Island, the difference of latitude between the two places being 8|°. 

 Notwithstanding this comparison, which we could not help thinking unfa- 

 vourable to our present station, or at least to the present season, it was fully 

 compensated by the enlivening prospect from the south-east point, where 

 there was, on the 1st of May, so large a space of clear water in sight, that 

 it was generally remarked we had not seen any so extensive since we entered 

 Hudson's Strait. A thin sheet of young ice continued to form on the sur- 

 face at night, but usually disappeared again in the course of the day. After 

 sunset, on the evening of the 2d, a thin horizontal streak or band of vapour Thur. 2, 

 appeared along the lower parts of the land : as the night advanced it be- 

 came thicker and more diffused, and at length, for the first time this season, 

 the ships were for an hour or two enveloped in fog. 



Okotook being now left without any of his own companions, Iligliuk 

 having accompanied some of the women to the tillage, passed a restless and 



