OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
199 
cold and raw, we built a wall to windward of the tents, as a substitute for I 820 * 
the usual shelter afforded by the cart; after supper, the people being a r ^ 
good deal fatigued, were allowed to rest till near midnight, and then em- 
ployed in arranging the baggage, so as to carry it on our shoulders for the 
rest of the journey. We saw here a great number of brent-geese, some 
ptarmigan, and many snow-buntings ; the constant and cheerful note of the 
latter reminded us of a better country. The wood which composed the light 
frame-work of the cart being now disposable as fuel, we were glad to make 
use of it in cooking a few ptarmigan, which afforded us another sumptuous 
meal. It is not, perhaps, easy for those who have never experienced it, to 
imagine how great a luxury any thing warm in this way becomes, after living 
entirely upon cold provisions for some time in this rigid climate. This 
change was occasionally the more pleasant to us, from the circumstance of 
the preserved meats, on which we principally lived, being generally at this 
time hard frozen, when taken out of the canisters. 
Having finished our arrangements with respect to the baggage, which Mon. 12. 
made it necessary that each of the men should carry between sixty and 
seventy pounds, and the officers from forty to fifty ; we struck the tents at 
half-past two on the morning of the 12th, and proceeded along the eastern 
shore of the Cove, towards a point which forms the entrance on that side. 
The rocks above us, which here approach the sea within fifty yards, were 
composed of sandstone in horizontal strata; and, in many parts of the cliffs 
which overlook the Cove, their appearance resembled more the ruins of 
buildings than the work of nature. Large fragments of stones which had 
fallen from above, were strewed about at the base of these precipices, 
filling up nearly the whole space between them and the beach. The head 
of Bushnan Cove is one of the pleasantest and most habitable spots we 
had yet seen in the Arctic Regions, the vegetation being more abundant 
and. forward than in any other place, and the situation sheltered and favour- 
able for game. We found here a good deal of moss, grass, dwarf- willow, 
and saxifrage, and Captain Sabine met with a ranunculus in full flower. 
We arrived at the Point at five o’clock, and as we could now perceive that 
the lake or gulf extended a considerable distance to the eastward, as well 
as to the westward, and that it would require a long time to go round in 
the former direction, I determined to cross it on the ice; and as the distance 
to the opposite shore seemed too great for one journey, the snow being 
soft upon the ice, first to visit the island, and having rested there, to proceed 
