124 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. AUGUST 



During the 4th the weather was overcast with snow 

 squalls from the south-west, with a low barometer but 

 very little wind. 



As the ice had closed in and locked the ship up 

 completely, the sportsmen visited the lakes where 

 three musk-oxen had been shot the previous summer 

 during our passage north. 



A number of brent geese were found ; the old birds 

 having moulted their pinion feathers, and the goslings 

 not having learnt the use of their wings, were taken at 

 a disadvantage, and fifty-seven were shot, which proved 

 a very important and opportune supply of fresh food 

 for the invalids, of whom we had still eleven remain- 

 ing. Although unable to fly, these geese were very 

 difficult to secure, as they kept out of range on the 

 water ; indeed, few, if any, would have been shot had 

 not Frederick's kayak been carried up to the lake and 

 launched ; by this means the birds were driven within 

 range of the guns. 



A large floe, apparently unattached to the bottom, 

 occupied about three-quarters of the surface of the 

 lake ; its surface was about twelve inches above the 

 water. 



The convalescents enjoyed a run over the hills, 

 and succeeded in picking a considerable supply ot 

 dwarf sorrel, but at this late season it had lost much 

 of its flavour. 



In my journal of this date I wrote : c A remark- 

 able opening in the land of Polaris Peninsula, five 

 miles to the southward of Cape Sunnier, on the oppo- 

 site shore of the channel, looks so like an indenta- 

 tion in the coast that T very strongly suspect it to be 



