OF THE POLAR SEA. 



231 



and its latitude, 64° 34' 52" S., was obtained. The canoe-track passes 

 to the eastward of this rock, but we kept to the westward, as 

 being the more direct course. From the time we quitted the banks 

 of Winter Eiver we saw only a few detached clumps of trees ; but 

 after we passed Dog-rib Rock even these disappeared, and we tra- 

 velled through a naked country. In the course of the afternoon 

 Keskarrah killed a rein-deer, and loaded himself with its head and 

 skin, and our men also carried off a few pounds of its flesh for sup- 

 per ; but their loads were altogether too great to permit them to 

 take much additional weight. Iveskarrah offered to us as a great 

 treat the raw marrow from the hind legs of the animal, of which 

 all the party ate except myself, and thought it very good. I was 

 also of the same opinion, when I subsequently conquered my then 

 too fastidious taste. We halted for the night on the borders of a 

 small lake, which washed the base of a ridge of sand-hills, about three 

 hundred feet high, having walked in direct distance sixteen miles. 



There were four ancient pine-trees here which did not exceed six 

 or seven feet in height, but whose branches spread themselves out 

 for several yards, and we gladly cropped a few twigs to make a bed 

 and to protect us from the frozen ground, still white from a fall of 

 snow which took place in the afternoon. We were about to cut down 

 one of these trees for firewood, but our guide solicited us to spare 

 them, and made us understand by signs that they had been long 

 serviceable to his nation, and that we ought to content ourselves 

 with a few of the smaller branches. As soon as we comprehended 

 his request we complied with it, and our attendants having, with 

 some trouble, grubbed up a sufficient quantity of the roots of the 

 dwarf birch to make a fire, we were enabled to prepare a comfortable 

 supper of rein-deer's meat, which we despatched with the appetites 

 travelling in this country never fails to ensure. We then stretched 

 ourselves out on the pine brush, and covered by a single blanket, 

 enjoyed a night of sound repose. The small quantity of bed-clothes 



