"But Melville Island and Port Felix are some degrees farther north latitude than Cape Bathurst, are they not?"
"Yes, madam, but in a certain sense we may say that their latitude proves nothing. A combination of different atmospheric conditions is requisite to produce intense cold. Local and other causes largely modify climate. If I remember rightly in 1845 . . . Sergeant Long, you were at Fort Reliance at that date?
"Yes, sir," replied Long.
"Well, was it not in January of that year that the cold was so excessive?"
"Yes it was, I remember only too well that the thermometer marked 70? below zero."
"What!" exclaimed Mrs Barnett, "at Fort Reliance, on the Great Slave Lake?"
"Yes, madam," replied the Lieutenant, "and that was at 65? north latitude only, which is the same parallel as that of Christiania and St Petersburg."
"Then we must be prepared for everything."
"Yes, indeed, we must when we winter in Arctic countries."
During the 29th and 30th November, the cold did not decrease, and it was necessary to keep up huge fires to prevent the freezing in all the corners of the house of the moisture in the atmosphere. Fortunately there was plenty of fuel, and it was not spared. A mean temperature of 52? Fahrenheit was maintained indoors in spite of the intensity of the cold without.