1876 NORTHERN SLEDGE JOURNEY. 371 



we fear, are only the premonitory symptoms. After 

 advancing for about half-a-mile, which distance took 

 us nearly four hours to accomplish, we arrived at such 

 a confused heap of hummocks that in the thick state of 

 the weather rendered a farther advance impossible. 

 We were therefore compelled to halt and pitch the 

 tents. After lunch, the weather clearing slightly, we 

 pushed on with a strong party of labourers, and suc- 

 ceeded in making a very fair road three-quarters of a 

 mile in length. The hummocks appeared interminable ; 

 the fioes small, not more than fifty to one hundred 

 yards across. A line of discoloured hummocks ex- 

 tended for some distance along the edge of one of the 

 Hoes ; on examination the discolouration was found to 

 be caused by the adherence of mud or clay. It looked 

 as if the side of the Hoe had been rubbed against, or in 

 some manner come into contact with, the shore. Dis- 

 tance made good a quarter of a mile. Temperature 

 at noon 4°. 



' 5th. — A dull foggy day, and snow falling. Ad- 

 vanced with one sledge, leaving one tent pitched and 

 the invalids inside. Arriving at the termination of our 

 made road of yesterday, the other tent was pitched, 

 and we returned to bring up another sledge, and so on 

 until the whole camp was advanced. The weather 

 remaining thick, all farther progress was quite out of 

 the question, and, much as we all disliked the forced 

 inactivity, we were compelled to remain in our bags 

 for the remainder of the day. A dreary scene sur- 

 rounded us ; a cold, desolate, and inhospitable-looking 

 scene. Everything of the same uniform colour ; 

 nothing to relieve the eye ; nothing but one sombrous, 



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