384 



PROVISIONS— LOCAL ATTRACTION. Jan. 1830. 



diet, for \re shot much wild fowl (geese, shags, and ducks), and 

 caught fish in the kelp, which were excellent eating. All that 

 could be procured was regularly and equally distributed to 

 the different messes in turn, and an account kept in a ' game 

 book."* (Appendix.) 



" 22d. Mr. Stokes went to examine Fury Harbour, and 

 returned late at night. In consequence of his account of the 

 remains of the Saxe Cobourg sealing schooner, lost in that har- 

 bour, I sent a boat with the carpenter to collect from it some 

 wood and bolts which might be useful to our ship, and remained 

 at anchor for a day longer than I had intended. 



This day all hands were put upon two-thirds' allowance, but 

 as itwas a measure which affected the crew much and myself notat 

 all, I was reluctant to give the necessary order, without first pro- 

 posing the measure openly, and giving the following reasons : — 



" Having succeeded beyond expectation in the examination 

 of the coast thus far, and hoping to be able to continue the 

 survey in the same manner, while our provisions lasted, I 

 thought it better to shorten the allowance while all hands were 

 well and hearty, and could obtain supplies of fish and wild 

 fowl, rather than at a later period, when we might be otherwise 

 situated. An extent of coast lay before us, and the parts par- 

 ticularly pointed out by Captain King, were yet unexamined. 



" 24th. A tolerably fine day ; I tried all the compasses on 

 shore, in three different places, placing them in a line to a dis- 

 tant mark ; because in taking bearings, for the variation of 

 the compass, during previous days, I had found very wide 

 differences between the results of the same, as well as different 

 compasses ; and they were also very sluggish ; the light cards 

 being more so than the heavy ones. I found it impossible to 

 reconcile their results by change of place or position, therefore it 

 is probable that all the rock affected the needle ; and I sus- 

 pect that not only this island and the one on which Mount 

 Skyring is situated, but most of the islands near are mag- 

 netic : particularly a cluster lying about a mile to seaward 

 of the Magill Islands, on which, I believe, Lieutenant Skyring, 

 or some of his party, took bearings. A boat was sent to 



