Dec. 1858. SCARCITY OF GAME. 187 



gan and willow-grouse have been seen, and three shot. Two 

 days ago I saw two reindeer. The eastern sea is frozen 

 over, and our old acquaintance the iceberg in Prince 

 Regent's Inlet is still visible on a clear day. We brew 

 sugar-beer; and we set nets for seals, but catch none, 

 although the nets have been made and set in favourable 

 positions under the ice by the Greenlanders ; hence we 

 suppose the seals also have migrated elsewhere ; if so, the 

 Esquimaux could not winter here. We have no regular 

 school this winter, but five of the men study navigation 

 every evening under the guidance of Young. Hobson and 

 I are doing all we can to make the ship dry, warm, and 

 comfortable : our large snow porches over the hatchways 

 are a great improvement. 



$t/i Dec— Cold, windy weather, with chilling mists from 

 the open water in Bellot Strait. We can seldom leave the 

 shelter of the ship for a walk on shore, and, when we do, 

 rarely see even a ptarmigan. Although these birds are 

 summer visitors only, yet some few remain throughout the 

 winter. They make holes in the snow and even burrow 

 under it to gain shelter from the icy blast. 



In the month of January two ptarmigan were shot at 

 Melville Island, and were both in excellent condition ; the 

 largest weighed two pounds and a half, its crop contained 

 two ounces and a half of slender willow-shoots, many of 

 them as thick as a crow-quill and three-fourths of an inch in 

 length. This fine bird, when prepared for cooking, weighed 

 a pound and a quarter. 



12 th. — Very cold weather; thermometer down to — 41 , 

 and the breeze comes to us loaded with mist from the open 

 water, causing the air to feel colder than it otherwise would. 

 Bellot Strait has become a nuisance, not only from this 

 cause, but from the strong winds — purely local — which 

 seldom cease to blow through it. 



