16 
Sketched by JR. M'CormieIc, 2i.N 
Owen Point, distant Five Miles, bearing E.S.E. 
Sledge Excursion round Baring Bay. 
Having struck the tent, and stowed it on the sledge, with our felt bags, 
buffalo robes, four days' provisions, and an " Etna " with spirits of wine for 
fuel, we started at 8 a.m. ; reached the first low rocky point in the curve of 
the bay, two miles distant, at 9 a.m. Our course lay over the low snow-clad 
ridges of shingle. From this our encampment hill and boat bore N. 
(magnetic), but here the variation is so great, as almost to reverse the 
points of the compass. At 9-30 a.m. we struck off more inland, in the 
direction of the ridge of hills, to avoid a curve of the bay, crossing over a 
level tract of marshy bog, covered with snow ; on which one of the party picked 
up a small spider. At 10.15 a.m. crossed a rivulet over a pebbly bed, from 
which some animal was seen on one of the shingle ridges ; but at too great a 
distance to make out whether it was a bear or reindeer, as it disappeared behind 
the ridge, before I could get my telescope to bear upon it. Crossed another 
running stream, rapidly flowing over its pebbly channel, (towards the bay) 
across which the sledge was carried. I made a considerable detour here in 
pursuit of the stranger, without seeing anything more of him, and overtook the 
sledge upon a broad, smooth, snow-clad plain, the monotonous w^hiteness of 
which, was only broken by the narrow bare ridges and spits of shingle, which 
intersected its surface like shaded lines, scarcely rising above it. At 1 1 a.m. my 
party being somewhat fatigued with this, to them, novel work, (and dragging a 
sledge over the inequalities of land, covered with snow though it be, is a far 
more laborious task than over floe ice,) they had a spell of ten minutes to rest, 
and take their allowance of rum, mixed with the pure water from an adjacent 
lake. Saw two sandpipers here, and the track of a reindeer ( Cervus tarandus), 
probably that of the animal we lately had a glance of. At 11.30 a.m. reached 
the head of the curve of the bay we had been steering for ; it contained a large 
patch of loose ice, a low point jutting out from it to the S.E. Point Eden bore 
N. from this. Passed two small lakes, and heard the cry of the red-throated 
diver. About noon the breeze died away to nearly a calm, and the men were 
so heated by their exertions, that they took a spell for a few minutes. I saw 
the land on the opposite side of the Queen's Channel, bearing E.S.E. At 1 p.m. 
a portion of the spine of some animal was picked up ; saw two more sandpipers, 
and passed another lake. The breeze springing up again, in less than a hour, 
had freshened to a gale, accompanied by a sharp snow-drift, which swept like 
volumes of smoke, over the wide waste around us to the sea, which was 
scattered over with streams of hummocky ice. We rested for an hour to dine, 
(m tlie side of a low shingle ridge, having the bay in front, a lake on either side, 
aiifl uDotlier in the rear, from which we drank delicious water, with our cold 
bacoi) and biscuit meal. Started again at 3 p.m. ; I shot a tern {Sterna arctica) 
near a small gap or pass, in an embankment here, skirting the bay. At 4.15 p.m. 
l*oint Ivlen bore N.N.W., and a peak of the land, on the opposite side of 
W ellington Channel S.E. 
