OF THE POLAR SEA. 



253 



at intervals in the forenoon, its particles so minute as to be observed 

 only in the sunshine. Towards noon the snow became more appa- 

 rent, and the two limbs of a prismatic arch were visible, one on 

 each side of the sun near its place in the heavens, the centre being 

 deficient. We have frequently observed this descent of minute icy 

 spiculae when the sky appears perfectly clear, and could even per- 

 ceive that its silent, but continued, action added to the snowy cover- 

 ing of the ground. 



Having received one hundred balls from Fort Providence by Be- 

 langer, we distributed them amongst the Indians, informing the 

 leader at the same time, that the residence of so large a party as his 

 at the house, amounting, with women and children, to forty souls, 

 was producing a serious reduction in our stock of provision. He 

 acknowledged the justice of the statement, and promised to remove 

 as soon as his party had prepared snow-shoes and sledges for them- 

 selves. Under one pretext or other, however, their departure was 

 delayed until the 10th of the month, when they left us, having pre- 

 viously received one of our fishing-nets, and all the ammunition we 

 possessed. The leader left his aged mother and two female attend- 

 ants to our care, requesting, that if she died during his absence, she 

 might be buried at a distance from the fort, that he might not be 

 reminded of his loss when he visited us. 



Keskarrah, the guide, also remained behind, with his wife and 

 daughter. The old man has become too feeble to hunt, and his 

 time is almost entirely occupied in attendance upon his wife, who 

 has been long affected with an ulcer on the face, which has nearly 

 destroyed her nose. 



Lately he made an offering to the water spirits, whose wrath he 

 apprehended to be the cause of her malady. It consisted of a knife, 

 a piece of tobacco, and some other trifling articles, which were tied 

 up in a small bundle, and committed to the rapid with a long 

 prayer. He does not trust entirely, however, to the relenting of 



