196 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
having made only three or four miles, and found abundance of water, which 
allowed us the comfort of washing our flannel shirts and putting on clean 
ones. From this time, indeed, we had rather more water than we wanted, 
the abundance of it making a great deal of swampy ground, through which 
the cart was dragged with great difficulty. The latitude observed at this 
station was 75° 26' 43", the longitude by chronometer being 111° 22' 41". 
We pursued our journey at half-past five P.M., and found the ground ex- 
tremely wet and swampy, which made the walking very laborious ; but we 
remarked that our feet always came to the frozen ground at the depth of eight 
or ten inches, even in those parts which were the most soft. At the distance 
of two miles and a half, we came to a ravine of which the principal branch, 
being not less than a quarter of a mile wide, took a N.N.E. and S.S.W. di- 
rection, and had a considerable stream of water running to the northward. 
Another branch from the S.E., which we crossed, was three hundred yards 
wide, and was as yet quite dry at the bottom. As the night came on, the 
weather became overcast, and a good deal of snow fell ; from which, however, 
the people were sheltered by the sail which a fresh northerly wind once 
more enabled them to set on the cart. Two other ravines occurred within 
three quarters of a mile, apparently connected with the large one, and which 
it required our utmost exertion to cross, the water being higher than our knees 
in the middle, and the whole of the sides of the ravine covered with deep 
and soft snow, into which the wheels of the cart sunk nearly to the axle, so 
that we could only get it across by what sailors call a “ standing pull.” The 
men having got their trowsers wet, we continued our journey till half-past 
eleven, to give them a chance of drying, and then halted, having only tra- 
velled four miles in a S.W. direction. We met with abundance of sorrel in 
some parts of this journey; its leaves were as yet scarcely the size of a six- 
pence, and almost entirely red. A few ptarmigans and a couple of geese were 
all the living animals seen, but we passed several tracks and horns of deer. 
At half-past two A.M., on the 10th, we struck the tents, and proceeded to 
the S.W., the wind having got round to the S.E., with continued snow. At 
the distance of two miles we entered upon a level plain three miles wide, 
which, with the exception of a patch here and there, was entirely covered 
with snow. The uncovered parts of this plain were so wet as to be almost 
impassable for the cart ; and we were now as desirous of keeping on the snow 
as, at the beginning of our journey from Winter Harbour, we had been 
anxious to avoid it. The plain terminated by a ravine, on the south bank of 
