OF THE POLAR SEA. 315 



miles and a half, however, we were cheered by 

 the sight of a large herd of rein-deer, and Hep- 

 burn went in pursuit of them ; but his hand being 

 unsteady through weakness he missed. He was 

 so exhausted by this fruitless attempt that we 

 were obliged to encamp upon the spot, although 

 it was a very unfavourable one. 



Next day we had fine and clear, but cold, 

 weather. We set out early, and, in crossing a 

 hill, found a considerable quantity of tripe de roche. 

 About noon we fell upon Little Marten Lake, 

 having walked about two miles. The sight of a 

 place that we knew, inspired us with fresh vigour, 

 and there being comparatively little snow on the 

 ice, we advanced at a pace to which we had 

 lately been unaccustomed. In the afternoon we 

 crossed a recent track of a wolverene, which, 

 from a parallel mark in the snow, appeared to 

 have deen dragging something. Hepburn traced 

 it, and upon the borders of the lake found the 

 spine of a deer, that it had dropped. It was 

 clean picked, and, at least, one season old ; but 

 we extracted the spinal marrow from it, which, 

 even in its frozen state, was so acrid as to ex- 

 coriate the lips. We encamped within sight of 

 the Dog-rib Rock, and, from the coldness of the 

 night and the want of fuel, rested very ill. 

 On the 28th we rose at day-break, but from the 



