206 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
last night, I believe we should have found some 
difficulty to get a space clear of it to pitch our tents 
on. The place where we stopped this forenoon 
was the best spot for our purpose that we met with 
since we left the ships. It was at the bottom of an 
open ravine, where there was abundance of water, 
and fine dry ground to lie upon. We ascertained 
the latitude of this place by meridian altitude to 
be 75° 22’ 43” N., and longitude, by chronometer, 
25’ 57” west of Winter Harbour. We built here 
a circular pile of stones, about eight feet high, 
in the centre of which we deposited a small 
cylinder containing a slip of parchment, similar to 
those already mentioned which were put in the tin 
canisters. Weresumed our journey at half past 
five o’clock in the evening, with a fine breeze of 
wind from the southward, and beautiful, clear wea- 
ther. ‘The wind being fair we set sail immediate- 
ly we got out of the ravine. At about four miles 
from the place whence we started, we came to 
another ravine, and between three and four miles 
farther on we crossed a second, both of which I 
remarked had their south side (for they ran east 
and west) abrupt, and the north side sloping like 
those already mentioned. ‘This conformation I 
am inclined to think is owing to the snow that col- 
lects in the north side of them, for we could not 
see the ground on that. side, whilst on their south 
side the surface of the earth was always visible. 
We steered our course to-day entirely by com- 
pass, for our route was over a level plain, so 
entirely under the snow, that no remarkable 
object could be seen at a distance to be guided 
