260 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



received the communication cheerfully, con- 

 sidered the journey to be short, and left me 

 in high spirits to arrange their own packages. 

 The stores, books, &c, which were not ab- 

 solutely necessary to be carried, were then 

 put up in boxes to be left en cache here, in 

 order that the men's burdens might be as 

 light as possible. 



The next morning was warm and very 

 fine. Every one was on the alert at an 

 early hour, being anxious to commence the 

 journey. Our luggage consisted of ammuni- 

 tion, nets, hatchets, ice chisels, astronomical 

 instruments, clothing, blankets, three ket- 

 tles, and the two canoes, which were each 

 carried by one man. The officers carried 

 such a portion of their own things as their 

 strength would permit ; the weight carried 

 by each man was about ninety pounds, and 

 with this we advanced at the rate of about 

 a mile an hour, including rests. In the 

 evening the hunters secured a lean cow 

 out of a large drove of musk oxen ; but the 

 men were too much laden to carry more 

 than a small portion of its flesh. The allu- 



