Having travelled S.W.b.W.
seven miles, we halted, at half an hour before midnight, at the
distance of three or four miles from the sea, the weather being
very clear and fine, with a moderate breeze from the S.S.W.
Having rested after our dinner till half past two A.M., we set out
again to the southwest, making, however, a very crooked course on
account of the irregularity of the ground. In the first quarter of
a mile we passed the first running stream which we had seen this
season, and this was but a small one, from six to twelve inches
deep. The ground, as well as the pools of water, was frozen hard
during the last night, but thawed during the day, which made
travelling worse and worse, as the sun acquired power. We passed a
few horns of deer, killed three ptarmigans, and saw a pair of
ducks. The plumage of the cock grouse was still quite white,
except near the tip of the tail, where the feathers were of a fine
glossy black; but in every hen which we had lately killed, a very
perceptible alteration was apparent, even from day to day, and
their plumage had now nearly assumed that speckled colour which,
from its resemblance to that of the ground, is so admirably
adapted to preserve them from being seen at the season of their
incubation.
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