198 A COMET OBSEKYED. Chap. XI. 



it was small, but mature in years. The cfask, a 

 strong watertight one, was packed on shore at 

 Aberdeen in June, 1857, and remained ever 

 afterwards unopened ; there was no hole by 

 which the mouse -could have got in or out, 

 besides it is the only one ever seen on board. 

 Ships' biscuit is certainly dry feeding, but who 

 dares assert, after the experience of our mouse, 

 that it is not wonderfully nutritious ? 



l^th. — Two nights ago a comet was observed 

 just beneath the constellation of the Great 

 Bear ; a series of measurements were com- 

 menced for determining its path. Yesterday I 

 walked through the most promising valleys for 

 eight hours, but did not see a living creature ; 

 yet there is a very fair show of vegetation, 

 much more than at Melville Island, where the 

 game is abundant. To the east there is not a 

 speck of ice, excepting only a huge iceberg, 

 probably the same we saw off Fury Point, a 

 very unusual visitor from Baffin's Bay, whence 

 it must have been driven by those long-con- 

 tinued east winds (of painful memory) in June 

 and July. 



Hobson and two men encamped out for three 

 days in order to scour the country ; they have 

 only seen one hare and one lemming ! Walker 

 geologizes ; amongst other things he finds much 



