1876 MUSK-OXEN SHOT. 73 



the ice outside the barrier of fioebergs moved off for 



about fifty yards. 



' As each floeberg must have been considerably 

 lightened by the summer's thaw, they are now liable 

 to be forced in nearer towards the land by the first 

 decided pressure. I am consequently rather anxious 

 about the ship ; however, the ice between her and the 

 land is so much decayed that I doubt its being able to 

 damage her much ; but if forced up on shore we shall 

 have heavy work with our few able-bodied men. 



' 23rd. — The invalids are continuing their recovery, 

 but slowly : there are yet twenty men under the 

 doctor's care, ten of whom are more or less confined 

 to their beds — one wholly so. While returning to the 

 ship yesterday, the rough gravel road over which we 

 were obliged to journey, between the ice-foot and the 

 cliffs, after first wearing out the steel runners, com- 

 pletely destroyed the sledge by the time we had arrived 

 within a quarter of a mile of the ship. 



' A south-west gale is blowing, and has driven the 

 pack off shore for a distance of about a mile — the 

 water-channel reaching to Cape Sheridan, whence a 

 crack extends two or three miles in the direction of 

 Cape Joseph Henry. There the ice is only now 

 breaking up, a day or two later than that to the east- 

 ward. 



4 Mr. Egerton returned this evening with the two 

 boats from Cape Belknap. He brings back 282 pounds 

 of beef, the remains of two musk-oxen shot by the 

 officers at Dumbell Lakes, and seventeen geese — a very 

 acceptable supply, our former stock of fresh meat 

 having been all consumed. 



