96 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
difficulties are encountered and overcome by an enormous ex- 
penditure of energy. Rugged ice is met with that will only 
yield a passage to the sledge by the use of the pickaxe; soft 
snow, into which the sledge sinks and requires the utmost 
exertion of men and dogs to extricate it; places are come across 
where dogs and sledge have to be lowered by ropes and hauled 
up again; add to these difficulties, low temperature, frost-bitten 
fingers, snow-blindness, and generally great thirst, with no 
possibility of relieving it. When the camping place is reached 
men and dogs are thoroughly fatigued, and it requires all the 
remaining energy of the party to pitch the tent, feed the dogs, 
and prepare some food before crawling into the sleeping bags. 
During the march it is almost impossible to leave the party, 
as, if the travelling is bad, an undue share of labour is thrown 
upon one’s comrades ; whilst, on the other hand, if the travelling 
be exceptionally good, the man who stays behind to collect 
specimens or wanders from the track, runs the chance of being 
lost, and, in any case, has a large amount of “leeway” to make 
up. I refer to these facts for the consideration of others who 
may be tempted, in the future, to undertake a similar journey 
to this region in the interests of Natural History. Let such a 
one remember that the difficulties attending research in the far 
north are equal to, if they do not exceed, those which the traveller 
in any other part of the globe can encounter, and consequently 
his expectation of results must not be too sanguine. 
On the 13th we reached Depot Point; the temperature, 
at +15° when commencing the march, felt very warm. The dogs 
seemed to feel the heat greatly ; whenever we halted they threw 
themselves on their backs, and rolled in the snow. A wind 
springing up, the temperature fell to —5°. We camped under 
the cliffs of Depot Point. A Snow Bunting, flying from rock 
to rock, cheered us with his sweet song. It was the first of 
the species we had met with that spring. The edges of the 
hummocks exposed to the sun’s rays were dripping, and icicles 
six feet in length were hanging from their sides. We had 
observed during the march the tracks of a Wolf, and those of 
Lemmings on the floe, several miles from land. The 14th was 
spent in ascending a hill some 1500 feet in altitude, about four 
miles to the westward of camp. From the summit we had a fine 
view, and fixed on a promising-looking valley to the north- 
es 
