The mean
temperature for the month of September was 22.1 degrees Fahr., and the
lowest 5 degrees, and yet though we wore only our woollen clothes,
except a fur koo-li-tar, or overcoat, when away from home, the cold is
not annoying. During October the mean temperature was -0 degree, and
the lowest -38 degrees.
On the afternoon of the 27th of September a heavy snow-storm set in,
and the next morning the snow was knee-deep on the level ice. The storm
continued until during the night of the 29th. The snow was very deep,
but the winter winds soon blew it around and packed it down so as to be
almost solid. By the 14th of October the sledging was sufficiently good
for Toolooah to go to Cape Herschel and Terror Bay for the sled and
other articles that were left there during the summer for the want of
transportation. As his little boy would suffer with the cold, Toolooah
exchanged wives with Joe for the trip, a very usual and convenient
custom among the Esquimaux.
The ice was sufficiently strong for the reindeer to commence crossing
to the main-land about the 1st of October, and in a few days their
numbers had very perceptibly diminished. After the 14th we saw none at
all; they seemed to have entirely disappeared. The Inuits had been very
busy making up fur clothing for the winter trip, and we had fixed upon
the 1st of November as the day for starting, by which time everything
would be ready.
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