OF THE POLAR SEA. 227 



scampers off, the hunters trot after them ; 

 in a short time the poor animals halt to 

 ascertain the cause of their terror, their 

 foes stop at the same instant, and having 

 loaded as they ran, greet the gazers with a 

 second fatal discharge. The consternation 

 of the deer increases, they run to and fro in 

 the utmost confusion, and sometimes a great 

 part of the herd is destroyed within the 

 the space of a few hundred yards. 



A party who had been sent to Akaitcho 

 returned, bringing three hundred and se- 

 venty pounds of dried meat, and two hun- 

 dred and twenty pounds of suet, together 

 with the unpleasant information, that a still 

 larger quantity of the latter article had been 

 found and carried off, as he supposed, by 

 some Dog-ribs, who had passed that way. 



The weather becoming daily colder, all 

 the lakes in the neighbourhood of the house 

 were completely, and the river partially, 

 frozen over by the middle of the month. 

 The rein-deer now began to quit us for 

 more southerly and better-sheltered pas- 

 tures. Indeed, their longer residence in 

 Q 2 



