Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/361

Rh  the rustling of silk. This lasted for about ten minutes, when the whole phenomenon suddenly rose upwards, and its splendour was gone. Ritch is an intelligent and credible person; and, on questioning him closely, he assured me that he had perfectly distinguished the sound of the aurora from that produced by the congelation of his breath—for the temperature at the time was 44 degrees below zero. I can, therefore, no longer entertain any doubt of a fact uniformly asserted by the natives, and insisted on by Hearne, by my friend Mr. Dease, and by many of the oldest residents in the fur countries; though I have not had the good fortune to hear it myself.

The winds in the early part of the winter were less violent, and blew less constantly from the eastward than in the preceding year; but with February the weather became boisterous and stormy, and continued so throughout the greater part of the season. North and south winds are of rare occurrence at any time at Fort Confidence. The east and west are the standard points; the former, as already remarked, being by much the coldest, though less decidedly so this winter than last. As for quantity, I have never known a country so windy as Great Bear Lake; a calm day scarcely happens once a month.