count of a
Sealing Excursion with them.--Fresh Disruption of the Ice in the
Bay.--Closing of the Winter Theatre.--Meteorological Phenomena
till the End of February, 1822.

The first day of the new year was a very severe one in the open
air, the thermometer being down to -22 deg., and the wind blowing
strong from the northwest. The effect of a breeze upon the
feelings is well known to every person, even in comparatively
temperate climates, but at low temperatures it becomes painful and
almost insupportable. Thus, with the thermometer at -55 deg., and no
wind stirring, the hands may remain uncovered for ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour without inconvenience; while, with a fresh
breeze, and the thermometer nearly as high as _zero_, few people
can keep them exposed so long without considerable pain.

About noon on the 2d, Captain Lyon observed a considerable body of
snow taken up by the wind and whirled round in a spiral form like
that of a water-spout, though with us the breeze was quite light
at the time. It increased gradually in size till lost behind the
southeast point. As a proof of the difficulty which the hares must
find in obtaining subsistence during the winter, these animals
were at this time in the habit of coming alongside the ships upon
the ice to pick up what they could from our rubbish-heaps. A fox
or two still entered the traps occasionally, and our gentlemen
informed me that they had always been most successful in catching
them after a southerly wind, which they attributed, with great
probability, to the smell of the ships being thus more extensively
communicated over the island. One or two of these poor creatures
had been found in the traps with their tongues almost bitten in
two. The traps made use of for catching these beautiful little
animals were formed of a small cask, having a sliding door like
that of a common mouse-trap, and were baited with oiled meat or
blubber. The whole number caught during the winter was between
eighty and ninety, of which more than seventy were taken before
the end of December. In a single trap of Captain Lyon's, no less
than fifteen were caught in the course of four hours, on the night
of the 25th of November; and the people engaged in watching the
trap remarked, that no sooner had one of these animals been taken
out, and they themselves retired a few yards, than another entered
it. So stupid, indeed, are they in this respect, that, in several
instances, those whic