OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



385 



being from - 30° to 33°, and the mercury in the barometer at 30.07 inches. As 1822. 



Decernb. 



the reverse of this was frequently the case when these instruments afforded ^rv' 

 an indication nearly similar, it appeared to us to depend on some other con- 

 dition, perhaps the moisture, of the atmosphere. On the 21st there being a Sat. 21. 

 fresh wind, with the sky clear overhead, Arcturus was discernible to the naked 

 eye till forty-seven minutes after eleven, A.M., apparent time ; at half an 

 hour past noon it was again visible, and stars of the second magnitude could 

 be distinguished at three-quarters past one o'clock. 



On Christmas-day I directed a small addition to be made to the allowance Wed. 25. 

 of provisions, including a dinner of fresh beef that had been killed on board 

 the Nautilus in the month of June, 1821, and preserved with a very small 

 quantity of salt rubbed over it, on deck, since that period. Though I never 

 saw a Christmas spent in so orderly a manner at sea, it did not pass without 

 producing some injurious effects upon the health of the men, several serious 

 cases of disordered bowels occurring immediately afterwards, in spite of 

 every precaution. As more than usual care had been taken to avoid excess 

 or exposure among them, Mr. Edwards considered this circumstance as 

 tending to evince a greater susceptibility in this way than had been exhibited 

 during our first winter. On the 26th Mr. Ross shot another grouse (tetrao Thur.26. 

 albus,) weighing one pound eight ounces, and having in its maw the same 

 vegetable substances as the last. On the 28th the smoke from the funnels Sat. 28. 

 was again observed to keep unusually low, skimming along the top of the 

 housing as it escaped, and then descending to the ice. The thermometer 

 was at this time at — 35°, and the mercury in the barometer at 29.65 inches, the 

 wind being light at N.N.W. 



The year closed with the temperature of — 42°, the mean of the month of Tues. 31. 

 December having been 27° 8, which, taken in connexion with that of Novem- 

 ber, led us to expect a severe winter. Observing a considerable difference 

 in the indication of some of our spirit-thermometers, ten of these instru- 

 ments were exposed to the atmosphere under exactly similar circumstances * : 

 when they were found to range from —35° to — 48°, the two hitherto registered 

 on board and on the ice, indicating from 2° to 3° higher than the mean of the 

 whole number. The latter of these two was in future used for registering 



* Of this number five were of uncoloured spirits, with the scales graduated as low as - 200° ; 

 the rest were of alcohol coloured in the usual manner. By subsequent comparisons it appeared 

 that at higher temperatures, especially above zero, the disagreement was much less between the 

 same instruments. 



3 B , 



