lluded to was subsequently given to
many of the other Esquimaux, some of whom could at length pronounce the
name of "King George" so as to be tolerably intelligible.

The weather was now so pleasant, and the temperature in the sun so
comfortable to the feelings when a shelter could be found from the wind,
that we set up various games for the people, such as cricket, football,
and quoits, which some of them played for many hours during the day.

At the close of the month of March, we were glad to find that its mean
temperature, being -19.75 deg., when taken in conjunction with those of
January and February, appeared to constitute a mild winter for this
latitude. There were, besides, some other circumstances, which served to
distinguish this winter from any preceding one we had passed in the ice.
One of the most remarkable of these was the frequent occurrence of hard,
well-defined clouds, a feature we had hitherto considered as almost
unknown in the winter sky of the Polar Regions. It is not improbable
that these may have, in part, owed their origin to a large extent of sea
keeping open to the southeastward throughout the winter, though they not
only occurred with the wind from that quarter, but also with the colder
weather, usually accompanying northwesterly breezes. About the time of
the sun's reappearance, and for a week or two after it, these clouds
were not more a subject of admiration to us on account of their novelty,
than from the glowing richness of the tints with which they were
adorned. It is, indeed, scarcely possible for nature, in any climate, to
produce a sky exhibiting greater splendour and richness of colouring
than we at times experienced in the course of this spring. The edges of
the clouds near the sun often presented a fiery or burning appearance,
while the opposite side of the heavens was distinguished by a deep
purple about the horizon, gradually softening upward into a warm yet
delicate rose-colour of inconceivable beauty. These phenomena have
always impressed us the most forcibly about the time of the sun's
permanent setting and that of his reappearance, especially the latter,
and have invariably furnished a particular subject of conversation to us
at those periods; but I do not know whether this is to be attributed so
much to the colouring of the sky exactly at the times alluded to, as to
our habit of setting on every enjoyment a value proportioned to its
scarceness and novelty.

Another peculi