THE LABRADOR JOURNAL 



371 



cattle are to be found here. Returning this evening the 

 tide had so fallen that we waded a mile and a half to an 

 island close to our anchorage; the sailors were obliged to 

 haul the boat that distance in a few inches of water. We 

 have removed the "Ripley" closer in shore, where I hope 

 she will be steady enough for my work to-morrow. 



June 20. Thermometer 60° at noon. Calm and beauti- 

 ful. Drew all day, and finished two Uria troile. I rose 

 at two this morning, for we have scarcely any darkness 

 now; about four a man came from Captain Billings to 

 accompany some of our party to Partridge Bay on a shoot- 

 ing excursion. John and his party went off by land, or 

 rather by rock and moss, to some ponds three or four 

 miles from the sea; they returned at four this afternoon, 

 and brought only one Scoter Duck, male; saw four, but 

 could not discover the nests, although they breed here; 

 saw also about twenty Wild Geese, one pair Red-necked 

 Divers, one Anas fusca, one Three-toed Woodpecker, 

 and Tell-tale Godwits. The ponds, although several 

 miles long, and of good proportion and depth, had no fish 

 in them that could be discovered, and on the beach no 

 shells nor grasses ; the margins are reddish sand. A few 

 toads were seen, which John described as "pale-looking 

 and poor. " The country a barren rock as far as the eye 

 extended ; mosses more than a foot deep on the average, 

 of different varieties but principally the white kind, hard 

 and crisp. Saw not a quadruped. Our Bear trap was dis- 

 charged, but we could not find the animal for want of a 

 dog. An Eider Duck's nest was found fully one hundred 

 yards from the water, unsheltered on the rocks, with five 

 eggs and clean down. In no instance, though I have 

 tried with all my powers, have I approached nearer than 

 eight or ten yards of the sitting birds ; they fly at the least 

 appearance of danger. We concluded that the absence of 

 fish in these ponds was on account of their freezing sol- 

 idly every winter, when fish must die. Captain Billings 



