OF THE POLAR SEA. 



11 



coast which was hid from our view by 

 Goulbourn's or Elliott's Islands. 



September 10. — We had a cold north wind, 

 and the atmosphere was foggy. The ther- 

 mometer 18° at five A.M. In the course 

 of our march this morning, we passed many 

 small lakes ; and the ground becoming 

 higher and more hilly as we receded from 

 the river, was covered to a much greater 

 depth with snow. This rendered walking 

 not only extremely laborious, but also ha- 

 zardous in the highest degree ; for the sides 

 of the hills, as is usual throughout the bar- 

 ren grounds, abounding in accumulations of 

 large angular stones, it often happened that 

 the men fell into the interstices with their 

 loads on their backs, being deceived by the 

 smooth appearance of the drifted snow. If 

 any one had broken a limb here, his fate 

 would have been melancholy indeed; we 

 could neither have remained with him, nor 

 carried him on. We halted at ten to gather 

 tripe de roche, but it was so frozen that we 

 were quite benumbed with cold before a 

 sufficiency could be collected even for a 



