252 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



trumpet, for the guidance of the company during their abode 

 thereon. For reasons stated in the history, the company did not 

 tarry here long, but departed for ' Meta Incognita J and thence to 

 England. 



" Now, may not the fact of timbers, chips, etc., etc., having been 

 found on one of the islands (within a day's journey of here) many 

 years ago, prove that the said materials were of this Frobisher's 

 company, and that hence the Innuit tradition ? 



"In a few days I hope to be exploring Frobisher Bay. I may 

 thereafter have something to add to the matter above referred to." 

 I now turn to other matters in my journal. 



" April 9th. As I write, the main cabin table of the ship is sur- 

 rounded by natives playing dominoes. There are Ebierbing, Miner 

 and his wife, Charley and wife, and Jim Crow with his wife. 



" The gale of to-day has been terrific. One would have to con- 

 test sharply with the elements in order to breathe, if outside of the 

 cabin for a moment. In the afternoon an alarm was raised that 

 Sharkey's wife had fallen down the forecastle steps and was dy- 

 ing. It seems that in mounting the stairs leading therefrom with 

 her semi-white child, she was taken with a fainting-fit, in which 

 she fell. Though no bones were fractured, yet she was so severe- 

 ly injured that she has been in a critical condition ever since, and 

 some of the time unconscious. 



" April 10th. This day Sterry left for Frobisher Bay settlement, 

 to remain a while among the natives. Parties are now very oft- 

 en going backward and forward, conveying ship's material to the 

 intended whaling depot at Cape True.* In the evening there 

 was another magnificent display of the aurora. At 9 o'clock a 

 long line or arch, extending from the west to the east, began to 

 rise from the horizon. I noticed a peculiarity of this night's dis- 

 play worthy of record. When the centre of the auroral arch had 

 risen about three degrees above the horizon, a long line of narrow 

 black clouds rested parallel with the base of the aurora. Slow- 

 ly the arch mounted the heavens, the clouds all this time becom- 

 ing less and less black, until they were finally exhausted. The 

 clouds were as dark as 'thunder-clouds' when I first saw them. 

 In half an hour the stars shone brightly where they had been. 

 They seemed to follow upward as the arch lifted. When the arch 

 became elevated 25°, other belts of aurora sprang into action, so 



* So named after Benjamin C. True, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Cape True is in lat. 

 62° 33' N., long. 64° 55' W. 



