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 Harbour, 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 dissolved, 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