BENNETT ISLAND. 687 



Weather cold and very disagreeable. It is impossible 

 to keep warm, and my feet have nearly frozen. Thick 

 clouds are flying rapidly over the sky, and those peo- 

 ple who have not seen nimbus clouds in the Arctic 

 ought to be here to see the rain clouds and the ragged 

 threatening edges they show. I would like very much 

 to get the height of this bluff in front of which we are 

 camped. But though it is variously estimated from 

 1,800 to 2,500 feet, my sextant measurements only 

 make it 300, and I shrewdly suspect that my sextant is 

 nearer right than wrong. It is so positively dangerous 

 to attempt to climb on account of the rottenness of the 

 cliff, that if a man slipped he would inevitably break 

 the barometer if not his neck. Aneguin had a narrow 

 escape yesterday with Mr. Dunbar ; climbing a cliff after 

 a bird, he slipped, and after sliding rapidly toward de- 

 struction, just barely caught with his nails and fingers 

 as he was about going over a precipice to the glacier 

 sixty feet below. 



The bird-hunters were unable to get a single bird, 

 and in consequence we had our last birds for supper. 

 Drift-wood enough was brought in to cook to-morrow, 

 and enough remains behind to last one day more. 

 During the evening rain fell occasionally. The wind 

 still blew a gale, and though we were somewhat pro- 

 tected fierce gusts took us, threatening to blow our 

 tents away. The doctor is quite sick. The birds have 

 not agreed with him, and pains, etc., are the con- 

 sequence. Piped down at nine p. m. Though I 

 have marked the wind N. W. it is possible that sweep- 

 ing around these points may constantly change its 

 direction. The wind may be much different from 

 what I marked it, though judging by the clouds it is 

 N. W. 



