416 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



Marcl wn * c ^ wore °^ £ enera % witil the returning spring. The sun now indeed 

 began to be somewhat glaring and oppressive to the eyes on first coming 

 into daylight ; and before the end of March some crape was issued to be worn 

 as veils, a protection of which most persons were already glad to avail them- 

 selves. A thermometer exposed to the sun on the south side of the observa- 

 Frid. 14. tory on the 14th, indicated +18°, while another suspended freely without 

 any shelter' from the wind, stood at zero, that in the shade being at — 9° at 

 the time. 



Mon. 17. The mercury in the barometer rose to 30.84 inches at ten P.M. this day, 

 being nearly the highest indication of this instrument we had ever registered 

 in the polar regions**. This occurred with light winds between the north 

 and east and a clear sky, except about the western horizon, over which a 

 dense darkish cloud hung during the whole day. At night indeed, when 

 the mercury stood the highest, we experienced for the first time this season 

 a dense fog, which for several hours obscured objects at the distance of two 

 or three hundred yards. The mercury fell very gradually from this time, 

 but so slowly that it had not reached thirty inches till noon on the 22d, 

 during the whole of which time we enjoyed delightful weather. 



Wed. 19. Mr. Mogg having accompanied some of the Esquimaux on their fishing 

 excursion to the margin of the land-ice, in hopes of shooting some dovekies 

 which they reported to be numerous there, found that a floe of young ice 

 too weak to bear their weight, had lately formed so as to prevent their 

 getting to the water. A number of sea-horses being seen on the sea-ice 

 beyond this, the Esquimaux in their anxiety to approach them, as a last re- 

 source, tried the strength of the ice by putting a young dog upon it, by which 

 they nearly drowned the little animal, without at length succeeding in their 

 endeavours. 



On the 21st a woman named Ootooguak, who had been brought to the hos- 

 pital in a very weak state, and had been gradually sinking for some days 

 past, died, without struggle or apparent pain of any kind. A short time be- 

 fore her death, of the approach of which both she and her husband were 

 well aware, she took Mr. Skeoch's hand, and grasping it between hers with 

 all the strength she then possessed, pressed it to her lips as an evident ac- 

 knowledgment of his attention to her. There is something peculiarly affect- 

 ing in such an acknowledgment at a moment like this. Ootooguak had she 



The mercury stood at 30.86 inches at Melville Island, on the 27th of April, 1820. 



