Sir John Richardson, in his history of his Expedition to these regions,
describes the power of the sun in a cloudless sky to have been so
great, that he was glad to take shelter in the water while the crews
were engaged on the portages; and he has never felt the direct rays of
the sun so oppressive as on some occasions in the high latitudes. Sir
John observes:
The rapid evaporation of both snow and ice in the winter and
spring, long before the action of the sun has produced the
slightest thaw or appearance of moisture, is evident by many
facts of daily occurrence. Thus when a shirt, after being washed,
is exposed in the open air to a temperature of from 40° to 50°
below zero, it is instantly rigidly frozen, and may be broken if
violently bent. If agitated when in this condition by a strong
wind, it makes a rustling noise like theatrical thunder.
In consequence of the extreme dryness of the atmosphere in winter,
most articles of English manufacture brought to Rupert’s Land are
shrivelled, bent, and broken. The handles of razors and knives,
combs, ivory scales, &c., kept in the warm room, are changed in
this way. The human body also becomes vividly electric from the
dryness of the skin. One cold night I rose from my bed, and was
going out to observe the thermometer, with no other clothing than
my flannel night-dress, when on my hand approaching the iron latch
of the door, a distinct spark was elicited. Friction of the skin at
almost all times in winter produced the electric odour.
Even at midwinter we had but three hours and a half of daylight.
On December 20th I required a candle to write at the window at ten
in the morning. The sun was absent ten days, and its place in the
heavens at noon was denoted by rays of light shooting into the sky
above the woods.
The moon in the long nights was a most beautiful object, that
satellite being constantly above the horizon for nearly a fortnight
together. Venus also shone with a brilliancy which is never
witnessed in a sky loaded with vapours; and, unless in snowy
weather, our nights were always enlivened by the beams of the
aurora.