THE MIDNIGHT SUN. -g

refuge to several vessels from the winds of the offing, and might be tum«i to account for the anchorage of the ships which it was hoped would come to the new settlement from Behring Strait Out of comphment to the lady of the party, and m„l to her de^ht Lieutenant Hobson named the stream Paulina river, and the little harbour Port Barnett. By building the fort a little behind the actual cape, the principal tiZ ""^ "agazines would be quite sheltered from the coldest wmds The elevation of the cape would help to protect them IZt T.^ '" '°'"'"'°^ •=°-"Pl^*«'y b"y We build ings beneath their heavy avalanches in a few hou,/ There was plen y of room between the foot of the promontoiy and the bank of the lagoon for all the constructions necessary to a fort It could ZIk '"""""/f by palisades, which would break the shock of the icebergs; and the cape itself might be surrounded with a fortified redoubt. If the vicinity of rivals should render such a purely defe n sive erection neces^ry ; and the Lieutenant, although with no idea of commencing anything of the kind as yet, naturally rejoiced at having met with an easily defensible position The weather remained fine, and it was quite warm enough. There was not a cloud upon the sky ; but, of course, the clear blue aTr of temperate and tomd zones could not be expected here, and the atmosphere was generally charged with a light mist. What wo^d Cape Bathurst be hke in the long winter night of four months, when he ice-mountams became fixed and rigid, and the hoarse north wind swept down upon the icebergs in all its furs' ' None of the pTrtv gave a thought to that time now ; for the weTther was ^L^^TZ V rdan landscape smUed, and the waves sparkled in the sunbekms wh 1st the temperatare remained warm and pleasant '°'"™^' A provisional camp, the sledges forming its only Material was Th„r^ Mrs Barnet, the Lieutenant, Sergeant Long, and even Thomas Black, explored the surrounding district in order to 7 a^nT """""• ^' ^PP^^--^" '" ""^ - --^ respect uiablT- and Hobson was eager for the next day, that he might determ ne was^r'-^hTstT'C said the astronomer when the examination iZZ^ J^Il ^ ^ * f r"""S 'P"*' '""^ '^ I should not have unagmed could have existed beyond the Arctic Circle."