212 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. earth is warm, it seldom or never lies on the ground for a whole day 
together. 
Captain Sabine, among the numerous difficulties he had to overcome in 
completing his series of observations for the pendulum, was now annoyed by 
the constant thawing and sinking of the ground, though much pains had been 
taken to lay a solid foundation for the clocks to stand upon ; fortunately, 
however, no serious inconvenience arose from this new annoyance. Lieutenant 
Beechey and his people procured another deer, and several hares and birds, 
which, added to the game already received, afforded a supply sufficient 
to substitute for three days’ regular allowance, while near the ships 
scarcely a single bird could now be procured. Not doubting, therefore, 
of the advantage of this plan, I determined to continue it till near the 
time of our sailing, by relieving the parties after a certain number of 
days’ absence. An account of the total quantity of game obtained during 
our long stay at Melville Island will be given hereafter. The men 
were, in general, particularly fond of these excursions, from which they 
invariably returned in the best possible health, though generally a little 
thinner than when they went out. As a matter of good policy, it was our 
custom to consider the heads and hearts of the deer as the lawful perquisites 
of those who killed them, which regulation served to increase their keenness 
in hunting, while it gave the people thus employed rather a larger share of 
fresh meat than those who remained on board. 
Mon. 26. Lieutenant Beechey, on his return from the eastward at midnight on the 
26th, reported that the ice along shore in that direction appeared in a more 
forward state of dissolution than near Winter Harbour, there being almost 
water enough in some places to allow a boat to pass, with several large cracks 
in the ice extending from the land some distance to seaward. The deer had 
now become much more wild near the tents, and it was therefore necessary 
to shift the ground a little. Lieutenant Beechey succeeded in killing one of 
these animals, by lying doAvn quietly, and imitating the voice of a fawn, 
when the deer immediately came up to him within gun-shot. The horns of 
the deer, killed at this season, as Mr. Fisher remarks, were “ covered with a 
soft skin, having a downy pile or hair upon it ; the horns themselves were 
soft, and at the tips flexible and easily broken.” The foxes, of which they 
saw several, “ had a black spot, or patch, on each side of the hind-quarters, 
or hams.” Lieutenant Beechey reported also, that one of the Hecla’s quarter- 
masters, who belonged to his party, had met with the crown-bone of a whale 
