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CHAPTER VIII.

Journey across Melville Island to the Northern Shore, and Return to the Ships by a different Route.

THE weather being favourable on the morning of the 1st of June, I made such arrangements as were necessary previous to my departure on our intended journey. I directed Lieutenants Liddon and Beechey to proceed with all possible despatch in the equipment of the ships for sea, having them ready to sail by the end of June, in order that we might be able to take advantage of any favourable alteration in the state of the ice at an earlier peri. od than present appearances allowed us to antici pate.

The party selected to accompany me, out of the numerous volunteers on this occasion, consisted of Captain Sabine, Messrs. Fisher, Nias, Reid, and Sergeant M Mahon, of the marines, Sergeant Martin, of the artillery, and three seamen and two ma. rines belonging to both ships, making a total of twelve, including myself. We were supplied with provisions for three weeks, according to the daily proportion of one pound of biscuit, two thirds of a pound of preserved meat, one ounce of salep pow. der, one ounce of sugar, and half a pint of spirits for each man. Two tents, of the kind called in the army horsemen's tents, were made of blankets, with two boarding-pikes fixed across at each end, and a

ridge-rope along the top, which, with stones laid upon the foot of the blankets, made a very com. fortable and portable shelter. These tents, with the whole of the provisions, together with a conju ror or cooking apparatus, and a small quantity of wood for fuel, amounting in the whole to eight hundred pounds, were carried upon a strong but light cart constructed for the purpose: this method having been decided on as the most convenient for the country in which we were about to travel.

Each officer and man was also furnished with a blanket made into a bag, with a drawing-string at each end, a pair of spare shoes and stockings, a flannel shirt, and a cap to sleep in. The clothing and blankets were carried on our backs in knap. sacks, those of the officers weighing from seventeen to twenty-four pounds each, and one between every two men weighing twenty-four pounds, to be carried for half a day alternately.

At five P.M. we left the ships, accompanied by a large party of officers and men from each, who were desirous of relieving us from the weight of our knapsacks for an hour or two; and, having been cheered by the ships on our departure, we went round the head of the harbour, and ascended the northeast hill. Our companions left us at eight P.M., and we proceeded across a level plain almost entirely covered with snow, which, however, was so hard as to make the travelling very good; and the cart was dragged along without difficulty. At eleven P.M. we came to three remarkable round hills; composed entirely of sand and masses of sandstone, and halted to dine close to the northward of them. Those parts of the land which were clear

of snow appeared to be more productive than those in the immediate neighbourhood of Winter Har. bour, the dwarf-willow, sorrel, and poppy being more abundant, and the moss more luxuriant; we could not, however, collect a sufficient quantity of the slender wood of the willow, in a dry state, for the purpose of dissolving snow for water, and were therefore obliged to use a part of the fuel which we had provided for that purpose. The thermometer stood at 31° at midnight.

Having set off soon after midnight, at the distance of half a mile in a N.b.E. direction we came to a piece of frozen water, half a mile in length and two hundred yards wide, situated on the south side of the range of hills which bound the prospect from Winter Harbour. The ice on the surface of this lake or pond was in some parts nearly dis. solved, and in all too soft to allow us to cross it. We halted at half past six A.M., and pitched the tents on the hardest ground we could find, but it became quite swampy in the course of the day. We killed seven ptarmigan, and saw two plovers and two deer, being the first we had met with this season, with a fawn so small as to leave no doubt of its having been dropped since the arrival of the female upon the island. They were so wild as not to allow us to approach them within a quarter of a mile. The day was fine, with light and variable airs; the thermometer stood at 34° in the shade at seven A.M., at which time it was unfortunately broken.

We again set forward at two A.M. on the 3d, crossing one or two ravines, running E.N.E. and W.S.W., in which there was a large collection of

snow, but as yet no appearance of water in the bottom of them. Captain Sabine and myself, being considerably ahead of the rest of the party, had sat down to wait for them, when a fine reindeer came trotting up, and played round us for a quarter of an hour, within thirty yards. We had no gun, nor do I know that we should have killed it if we had, there being already as much weight upon the cart as the men could well drag, and having no fuel to spare for cooking; besides, we felt it would have been but an ill return for the confidence which he seem. ed willing to place in us. On hearing our people talking on the opposite side of the ravine, the deer immediately crossed over, and went directly up to them, with very little caution; and they being less scrupulous than we were, one or two shots were immediately fired at him, but without effect; on which he again crossed over to where we were sitting, approaching us nearer than before. As soon as we rose up and walked on, he accompanied us like a dog, sometimes trotting ahead of us, and then returning within forty or fifty yards. When we halted, at six A.M., to make the usual observations, he remained by us till the rest of the party came up, and then trotted off. The reindeer is by no means a graceful animal; its high shoulders, and an awkward stoop in its head, giving it rather a deformed appearance. Our new acquaintance had no horns; he was of a brownish colour, with a black saddle, a broad black rim round the eyes, and very white about the tail. We observed that, whenever he was about to set off, he made a sort of playful gambol, by rearing on his hind legs.

At two o'clock on the morning of the 4th we

continued our journey to the northward, over the same snowy and level plain as before, than which it is impossible to conceive anything more dreary and uninteresting. It frequently happened that, for an hour together, not a single spot of uncovered ground could be seen. The breeze freshened up to a gale from the S.S.E. as we proceeded, and the men, as if determined not to forget that they were sailors, set a large blanket upon the cart as a sail, which, upon the present level ground, was found to be of material assistance. The snow was deep and rather soft, which made the travelling heavy; and as the wind produced a good deal of snowdrift, most of the bare patches of ground became covered up, so that, when our time for halting had arrived, not a piece of ground could be seen on which to pitch the tents. Captain Sabine and myself went forward to look out for a spot, and at length were fortunate to meet with one, on which there was just room for our little encamp. ment. It was with some difficulty, by building a wall with stones and our knapsacks, that we pre. vented its being covered with snow before the party came up, which they did at half past seven A.M., having travelled ten miles in a N.W.b.N. direc. tion.

By the time we had secured the tents the wind blew hard, with a continued fall, as well as drift of snow, so that we could not but consider ourselves fortunate in having met with a spot of ground in good time. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, we found the tents afford us very comfortable and sufficient shelter, the cart being tilted up to windward of them, so as to break in some

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