Our new acquaintance
had no horns; he was of a brownish colour, with a black saddle, a
broad black rim round the eyes, and very white about the tail. We
observed that, whenever he was about to set off, he made a sort of
playful gambol, by rearing on his hind legs.
At two o'clock on the morning of the 4th we continued our journey
to the northward, over the same snowy and level plain as before,
than which it is impossible to conceive anything more dreary and
uninteresting. It frequently happened that, for an hour together,
not a single spot of uncovered ground could be seen. The breeze
freshened up to a gale from the S.S.E. as we proceeded, and the
men, as if determined not to forget that they were sailors, set a
large blanket upon the cart as a sail, which, upon the present
level ground, was found to be of material assistance. The snow was
deep and rather soft, which made the travelling heavy; and as the
wind produced a good deal of snowdrift, most of the bare patches
of ground became covered up, so that, when our time for halting
had arrived, not a piece of ground could be seen on which to pitch
the tents. Captain Sabine and myself went forward to look out for
a spot, and at length were fortunate to meet with one, on which
there was just room for our little encampment.
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