406 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



the coast which was hid from our view by Goulburn's or Elliot's 

 Islands. 



September 10.— We had a cold north wind, and the atmosphere 

 was foggy. The thermometer 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 ren- 

 dered walking not only extremely laborious, but also hazardous in 

 the highest degree ; for the sides of the hills, as is usual throughout 

 the barren 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 scanty meal. On proceeding our men were somewhat cheered, by 

 observing on the sandy summit of a hill, from whence the snow had 

 been blown, the summer track of a man ; and afterwards by seeing 

 several deer tracks on the snow. About noon the weather cleared 

 up a little, and, to our great joy, we saw a herd of musk-oxen 

 grazing in a valley below us. The party instantly halted, and the 

 best hunters were sent out ; they approached the animals with the 

 utmost caution, no less than two hours being consumed before they 

 got within gun-shot. In the mean time we beheld their proceed- 

 ings with extreme anxiety, and many secret prayers were, doubtless, 

 offered up for their success. At length they opened their fire, and 

 we had the satisfaction of seeing one of the largest cows fall ; another 

 was wounded, but escaped. This success infused spirit into our 

 starving party. To skin and cut up the animal was the work of a 



