She might herself easily have escaped the boat, but
would not forsake her young, which she was actually "towing" off, by
allowing them to rest on her back, when the boat came near them. A
second similar instance occurred in the spring, when two cubs having got
down into a large crack in the ice, their mother placed herself before
them, so as to secure them from the attacks of our people, which she
might easily have avoided herself.
One or two foxes (_Canis Lagopus_) were killed, and four caught in traps
during the winter, weighing from four pounds and three quarters to three
pounds and three quarters. The colour of one of these animals, which
lived for some time on board the Fury, and became tolerably tame, was
nearly pure white till the month of May, when he shed his winter coat,
and became of a dirty chocolate colour, with two or three light brown
spots. Only three hares (_Lepus Variabilis_) were killed from October
to June, weighing from six to eight pounds and three quarters. Their fur
was extremely thick, soft, and of the most beautiful whiteness
imaginable. We saw no deer near Port Bowen at any season, neither were
we visited by their enemies the wolves. A single ermine and a few mice
(_Mus Hudsonius_) complete, I believe, our scanty list of quadrupeds at
this desolate and unproductive place.
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