110 NOTES ON THE ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. [June 23, 1856. 



sive lake, and that the water, by its own law of seeking a level, penetrated 

 incessantly through the soil,, and reached the ocean eventually. But, now we 

 see the indented outline of those shores, all theorizing is unnecessary. TJiey 

 serve the purpose of rivers. Into their ever-frozen bosoms are poured, in the 

 short space of an Arctic summer, the thousands, ay, millions, of pigmy rivu- 

 lets, which drain either shore of the narrow strips of land. 



And, moreover, it will be seen at a glance that the numbei- of square miles 

 of land in any one place is but small. The coast-line bears a very large pro- 

 portion to the extent of all these islands. Had the Parry group been composed 

 of close-grained granite, or the primary rocks, such as Greenland is, it would 

 have been, like the latter, smothered under one huge glacier long ago, owing to 

 the accumulation of snow, which could in the summer neither scoop out chan- 

 nels for itself nor percolate through its soil. Those islands, however, are formed 

 of limestone and sandstone, both easily acted tipon by the agency of frost and 

 water ; and on every hand the land bore traces of the extraordinary extent to 

 which Nature applies them in working out her own wonderful and perfect 

 plans. 



In the fields of Natural History, we had during our three years' sojourn 

 much to marvel at, and many an old theory to abandon. It is not here that I 

 should touch upon these subjects ; but I must tell you that we, with others at 

 Melville Island and Banks Land, were able confidently to state as a fact, though 

 previously unknown, that that Providence which tempers the wind to the shorn 

 lamb, has, in his great wisdom, enabled the deer, the lemming, the musk-ox, 

 hare, and even the ptarmigan, to live through with impunity the rigours of an 

 Arctic winter in the Parry Islands. Turning perfectly white, these creatures 

 pass the winter, seeking their food in its frozen state beneath the snow, which 

 often, and especially in the lemming, hare, and ptarmigan, serves to shield them 

 from the cold, or to secrete them from their foes, the wolf and fox. 



Melville Island may be said to abound in game, but on the other islands their 

 visits, like those of angels, are few and far between ; and as we come eastward, 

 from the sandstone to the limestone of North Devon, poverty in the vegetable 

 kingdom and scarcity of game are very perceptible. 



North of North Devon sandstone again appears, and on Table Island the 

 quantity of vegetation and traces of birds were very striking, although not 

 more than seven miles from the stormy-headed and famine-stricken shore upon 

 which we had wintered. Geologists can best explain why, but at last we all 

 learned to look upon limestone with horror ; and the men of my sledge party 

 often said to me, " Ah, Sir, we are coming to that blessed limestone again, and 

 banian days too ;" for so surely as we met it, so surely was vegetation scarce, 

 and animals naturally likewise. 



ERRATA IN PROCEEDINGS, No. II. 



On cover — Feb. and Marchy not April. 



At page 44, insert — Eighth Meeting, March 10. The Rev. J. S. Brewer, M.A,, 

 Frederick Manning, A. Roche, Hon. G. Waldegrave, Joshua Walker, and II. J. 

 Williams, Esqrs., were elected Fellows. E. Osborne Smith and T. H. Brooking, 

 Esqrs., on the part of the Council; and H. Raper, R.N., and F. Le Breton, Esqrs., 

 on the part of the Society, were elected Auditors for the year. The Papers read 

 were Nos. 1 and 2, not 5 and 6. 



IN PROCEEDINGS, No. III. 



Page 55, Ninth Meeting, not Eighth; 61, Tenth Meeting, not Ninth ; 69, Eleventh 

 Meeting, not Tenth. — Ed. 



