1876 BREAK UP OF THE PACK. 71 



and succeeded in catching forty-three chair, weighing 

 in all about seven pounds — a very good haul ; like 

 every other dainty they were given to the sick. 



' 19th. — The pack is very slightly in motion ; a 

 crack has formed parallel with the shore at a distance 

 of half a mile. The temperature of the water at the 

 surface was 3 2° '5 ; between a depth of nine feet and 

 the bottom in forty-six fathoms it was 29°. 



'Dr. Moss shot a hare and two geese, a very 

 welcome addition to the fresh provisions. During the 

 last few days the convalescents have been able to 

 gather a small daily ration of dwarf sorrel sufficient for 

 their sick comrades. 



4 20th. — I started for Cape Union to look at the 

 state of the ice in Eobeson Channel ; Parr and Giffard, 

 with Frederick and the dogs, accompanied me. 



' Although we travelled when it was low- water in 

 order to obtain as dry a road as possible inside the ice- 

 barrier, we had hard work to get the very light sledge 

 along, having to travel for nearly half the journey over 

 either wet snow or the gravel itself. 



' As we opened Eobeson Channel we found that 

 although the pack in the offing was stationary, between 

 it and the land the ice for a breadth of nearly a mile 

 was broken up and moving slowly with the tide, nipping 

 against the shore-hummocks and the outer pack. Parr 

 shot two dovekies in a pool of water about a mile 

 south of Cape Eawson. With the exception of a single 

 example seen by Feilden in lat. 82° 30' ~N. these are 

 the only ones we have observed in the neighbourhood 

 of winter- quarters. Seven geese and a hare were shot 



