OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



403 



We to-day placed a Six's self-registering thermometer in the ground near l823 - 

 the observatory, four feet beneath the surface, the indices being set at + 8°. \^r+j 

 It would undoubtedly have been interesting to have ascertained the tempera- 

 ture of the earth during the winter, at a much greater depth than this ; but 

 to give an idea of the difficulty of doing this, it will only be necessary to state 

 that it occupied twenty-seven days to effect what we did, and that at the 

 expense of ten pick-axes broken by digging. After the first twenty inches, 

 where the soil was quite loose, the ground was literally frozen as hard as a 

 rock, so that each blow of the pick-axe brought off only a few splinters ac- 

 companied by some white dust. As only one man could have room to work 

 at a time, another foot in depth would probably have occupied two or three 

 weeks more in completing, and it was therefore considered advisable to take 

 advantage of the present high temperature of the atmosphere to deposit the 

 thermometer and close up the hole. The mercury in the barometer once 

 more stood as high as 30.52 inches to-day, a light wind blowing from the 

 N.N.E., and we had fine weather for two or three succeeding days. 



To give some idea of the number of deer killed by the Esquimaux at the 

 proper season, I may here state that 1 to-day counted on a girdle worn round 

 the waist by Toolooak's mother, twenty-nine ears of that animal, which had 

 all been procured by this young man's own exertions in the course of the last 

 summer. His own game of this kind must therefore have amounted to at 

 least fifteen deer, and his mother almost constantly wore the girdle as a proud 

 trophy of her son's exploits. There are few mothers indeed who might not 

 be proud of such a son as Toolooak, who on longer acquaintance quite 

 maintained his former character, of possessing many excellent qualities both 

 of head and heart. 



On the 6th Kooeetseek being convalescent was discharged from our sick-Thur. 6. 

 bay, and sent on a sledge to the huts, where he soon after regained the 

 flesh he had lost, and was as well as ever. He had scarcely left us when 

 our expected patient, Innooksioo, arrived with his wife, two young children, 

 and all the worldly property they possessed, and was comfortably established 

 in the hospital. This man who, when in health, was one of the most lusty 

 and vigorous in the tribe, was now so much reduced by illness that his face 

 could scarcely be recognised. He was brought to the ship on the sledge of 

 old Nannow, who also accompanied him, and continued throughout his 

 illness to visit him occasionally. 



On the 8th a trifling circumstance occurred which, however, as it exhibits Sat. 8. 



3 f 2 



