158 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. Octobee 



left on the ice, remained away some eight days, during 

 some of which a furious gale was blowing, and then 

 returned to do good service on the present journey. 

 The only harm his absence seems to have done him 

 is to have given him an unappeasable appetite, for he 

 is less particular in what he eats than any other of the 

 creatures ; harness, rope, leather-straps, hide-lashing, 

 painted canvas, &c, have all suffered from his pecu- 

 liarity ; and on one occasion he investigated the 

 frozen contents of the metal ladle with such eagerness 

 that he bit a piece clean out of it two inches in length. 



' On the 27th, accompanied by Ayles, I started off 

 from the tent, in a W.N.W. direction, and at noon 

 reached the summit of a hill near Cape Joseph Henry 

 about 2,300 feet high. The only difficulty was the 

 snow, which was in some places above the knees, but 

 the ascent was generally easy except near the top, 

 which was somewhat steeper. 



' The weather did not promise a very good view, 

 and as we got higher I found a dense mist hanging 

 some eight or ten miles from the land between N.W. 

 and N.N.E. Unfortunate in this respect, I was quite 

 the contrary in the place of observation, for instead of 

 a long and undulating plain, which often disappoints 

 one on reaching what is vainly hoped to be the summit, 

 this ended abruptly on its N.W. side in a precipitous 

 descent of over 1,000 feet into the snow-clad valley 

 beneath. 



6 The hills immediately beneath me prevented my 

 seeing the coast-line for some fifteen miles, but beyond 

 that I got a good view, and good bearing of two well- 

 defined capes. 



