Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/294

Rh 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 severely 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 awhile among the natives. Parties are now very often 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 display 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. Slowly the arch mounted the heavens, the clouds all this time becoming 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 that there was a sight worth the admiration of beings even superior to man! "To-day I have purchased of the captain the chronometer that had belonged to the Rescue. I intend to make record of all the observations I take, leaving most of them to be worked up on my return home. Some undoubtedly will prove to be erroneous; but I shall do what I can to make all my observations reliable. There is nothing that has weighed more heavily upon me than the want of a good time-piece. When I make my journey westward and northward to King William's Land, I shall require the chronometer. Indeed, I need it in my journey up Frobisher Bay this spring. I am anxious to perform work that shall redound to the credit of those who