NOTES FROM AN ARCTIC JOURNAL. 19 
beach, and, consequently, by backing in the direction of the sea 
I got the Musk-ox to follow me. At last the animal stopped, 
and, losing all patience, I laid hold of it by the horns and 
endeavoured to drag it the way I wanted. This was too great 
an insult; the animal drew back, gave an angry snort, and, 
striking me in the stomach, knocked me nearly senseless into the 
snow, my rifle flying in another direction. Fortunately for me 
the beast did not follow up its advantage. I rolled away as soon 
as possible from under its nose, and, getting hold of my rifle 
again, shot it dead. 
After re-fitting the ‘ Alert’ with a new rudder, the passage of 
Robeson Channel was again attempted; but on the 30th August 
we were caught in the pack off Lincoln Bay, and our ship was in 
very great danger of being crushed. The ice which surrounded 
us when in the pack was of amazing thickness, the floe-pieces 
floating eight and ten feet above the water, or, in other words, 
representing fifty to a hundred feet of thickness. As these 
masses closed against one another their edges crumpled up, 
and ridges of hummocks reared themselves to a height of 
twenty feet above the level of the floes, overtopping the bulwarks 
of the ship. Fortunately we were protected to some extent by 
a quantity of rubble-ice, which was packed between the heavier 
floes, and, acting as a buffer, fended off the greater part. of the 
pressure, but the ship groaned and creaked, and the dismal sound 
of the ice crunching against her sides added to our discomfort, 
knowing that we were drifting helplessly with the wind and tide. 
Fortunately, however, we managed to clear out of the ice, and 
gained the shelter of Lincoln Bay just as a strong southerly gale 
came tearing up the channel. 
Whilst fastened to the land-ice of Lincoln Bay some of our 
party went on shore and brought back two Hares. One weighed 
nine pounds, the other only five and a half. Both had the 
ears tipped with black. The smaller of the two had a mal- 
formation of the skull, the nasal bones being twisted to the right 
and the incisors of the upper jaw deflected in that direction. In 
the lower jaw only the left incisor was developed, and that 
protruded in nearly a horizontal direction to the front. A dead 
Knot was picked up, and two Ivory Gulls were seen flying about 
the ship. Aldrich, when fixing ice-anchors, observed what he 
described as a yellowish-coloured worm-like creature wriggling in 
