124 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. August 



During the 4th the weather was overcast with snow 

 squalls from the south-west, with a low barometer but 

 very little wind. 



As the ice had closed in and locked the ship up 

 completely, the sportsmen visited the lakes where 

 three musk-oxen had been shot the previous summer 

 during our passage north. 



A number of brent geese were found ; the old birds 

 having moulted their pinion feathers, and the goslings 

 not having learnt the use of their wings, were taken at 

 a disadvantage, and fifty-seven were shot, which proved 

 a very important and opportune supply of fresh food 

 for the invalids, of whom we had still eleven remain- 

 ing. Although unable to fly, these geese were very 

 difficult to secure, as they kept out of range on the 

 water ; indeed, few, if any, would have been shot had 

 not Frederick's kayak been carried up to the lake and 

 launched ; by this means the birds were driven within 

 range of the guns. 



A large floe, apparently unattached to the bottom, 

 occupied about three-quarters of the surface of the 

 lake ; its surface was about twelve inches above the 

 water. 



The convalescents enjoyed a run over the hills, 

 and succeeded in picking a. considerable supply of 

 dwarf sorrel, but at this late season it had lost much 

 of its flavour. 



In my journal of this date I wrote : — ' A remark- 

 able opening in the land of Polaris Peninsula, five 

 miles to the southward of Cape Sumner, on the oppo- 

 site shore of the channel, looks so like an indenta- 

 tion in the coast that T very strongly suspect it to be 



