OF THE POLAR SEA. 



99 



rienced the extremes of heat and cold on 

 opposite sides of the body. 



November 24t. — We obtained observations 

 for the dip of the needle and intensity of the 

 magnetic force in a spare room. The dip 

 was 83° 9' 45", and the difference produced 

 by reversing the face of the instrument 

 13° 3' 6". When the needle was faced to 

 the west it hung nearly perpendicular. The 

 Aurora Borealis had been faintly visible for 

 a short time the preceding evening. Some 

 Indians arrived in search of provision, hav- 

 ing been totally incapacitated from hunting 

 by sickness ; the poor creatures looked 

 miserably ill, and they represented their 

 distress to have been extreme. Few reci- 

 tals are more affecting than those of their 

 sufferings during unfavourable seasons, and 

 in bad situations for hunting and fishing. 

 Many assurances have been given me that 

 men and women are yet living who have 

 been reduced to feed upon the bodies of 

 their own family, to prevent actual starva- 

 tion ; and a shocking case was cited to us, 

 of a woman who had been principal agent 

 h 2 



