IV.] 
PORT DICKSON. 
191 
an abundant supply of good water, in case snow water cannot be 
obtained from any of the beds of snow which up to autumn are 
to be found at several places along the strand escarpments in 
the neighbourhood of the harbour. 
At our arrival six wild reindeer were seen pasturing on Dick¬ 
son’s Island; one of them was killed by Palander, the others were 
stalked unsuccessfully. Some bears, as has already been stated, 
were also seen, and everywhere among the heaps of stones there 
were numerous remains of the lemming and the fox. With 
these exceptions there were few of the higher animals. Of 
birds we thus saw only snow-buntings,^ which bred among the 
stone heaps both on the mainland and on the islands, a 
covey of ptarmigan, a large number of birds, principally 
species of Tringa and Phalaropus, but not further deter¬ 
mined, eiders, black guillemots and burgomasters in limited 
numbers, and long-tailed ducks and loons in somewhat greater 
abundance. There are no ‘‘down islands,” and as there are no 
precipitous shore cliffs neither are there any looneries. A 
shoal of fish was seen in Lena Sound, and fish are probably 
exceedingly abundant. Seals and white whales also perhaps 
occur here at certain seasons of the year in no small numbers. 
It was doubtless with a view to hunt these animals that a 
hut was occupied, the remains of which are visible on one of the 
small rocky islands at the north entrance into the harbour. The 
ruin, if we may apply the term to a wooden hut which has 
fallen in pieces, showed that the building had consisted of a 
room with a fireplace and a storehouse situated in front, and 
that it was only intended as a summer dwelling for the hunters 
and fishers who came hither during the hunting season from the 
now deserted swiovies ^ lying farther south. 
I am convinced that the day will come when great warehouses 
and many dwellings inhabited all the year round will be found at 
Port Dickson. Now the region is entirely uninhabited as far 
^ Dwellings intended both for winter and summer habitation. 
