About noon on the 2d, Captain Lyon observed a considerable body of
snow taken up by the wind and whirled round in a spiral form like
that of a water-spout, though with us the breeze was quite light
at the time. It increased gradually in size till lost behind the
southeast point. As a proof of the difficulty which the hares must
find in obtaining subsistence during the winter, these animals
were at this time in the habit of coming alongside the ships upon
the ice to pick up what they could from our rubbish-heaps. A fox
or two still entered the traps occasionally, and our gentlemen
informed me that they had always been most successful in catching
them after a southerly wind, which they attributed, with great
probability, to the smell of the ships being thus more extensively
communicated over the island. One or two of these poor creatures
had been found in the traps with their tongues almost bitten in
two. The traps made use of for catching these beautiful little
animals were formed of a small cask, having a sliding door like
that of a common mouse-trap, and were baited with oiled meat or
blubber. The whole number caught during the winter was between
eighty and ninety, of which more than seventy were taken before
the end of December.
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