TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 215 
more to the southward, in order to keep ona ridge 
of rising ground, which was almost clear of snow, 
and led to the Blue Hills. As our route 
was chiefly over such good travelling ground, we 
got by seven o’clock to the foot of these hills; 
where we pitched our tents on the top of a fine 
dry eminence; from which, we had a tolerable 
good view of the plain to the northward and 
westward of us. We shot three ptarmigans at 
this place, two of which were hens, and had the 
colour of their plumage so much changed, that a 
person would hardly suppose them to be the same 
kind of bird with those that we killed about a week 
ago; for the belly was the only part of them that 
was white; the head, neck, back, and upper side 
of the wings, and the tail, being nearly of the 
same colour as a partridge. ‘The cock was per- 
fectly white, as before. In the course of our trip, 
this morning, we saw, for the first time this season, 
a running stream of water; and we passed several 
large pools of it in the ravines which we crossed. 
We found the lat. of the place of our encampment 
by meridian altitude, to be 75° 26’ 43” N. 
and long., by chronometer, 53’ 37” 5 W. of Win- 
ter Harbour. The weather was extremely fine, 
with a light air of wind from the southward 
and westward. The men employed themselves, 
during their respective watches, in washing their 
flannels, stockings, and such other articles as 
they had dirty; which were all perfectly dry 
by half-past five o’clock in the afternoon, 
the time when we started again. Our route 
this evening was sometimes across plains and 
Pp 4 
