summit of this eminence, in the expectation of obtaining the bearings of
several distant points, we were a little disappointed to find that only
the low shores of Pitt Island were visible, extending from S.E. to
W.N.W., though we were repaid for our visit by observing two moose deer
quietly browsing on the tops of the willows, a short distance from us.
Mr. Kendall hastened down to despatch Baptiste in pursuit of them, who
returned an hour afterwards to inform us that he had wounded one, which
he had been prevented from following by the loss of his powder-horn. As
there was no possibility of our getting forward until the gale abated,
Baptiste and Augustus were sent out to hunt, there being numerous tracks
of moose and rein-deer in the neighbourhood of the tent. I also
despatched Mr. Kendall, with two seamen, to walk some distance into the
interior, and endeavour to clear up the doubt whether we were upon the
main shore, or upon an island. The astronomical observations obtained at
the encampment place it in latitude 69 degrees 3 minutes 45 seconds N.,
longitude 135 degrees 44 minutes 57 seconds W. A tide-pole was put up
immediately on our landing, and we perceived the water to rise about
three inches in the course of the forenoon, and to fall the same
quantity in the evening. The temperature of the air did not exceed
forty-eight degrees all this day: when in the river, it used to vary
from 55 degrees to 70 degrees. Mr. Kendall came back in the evening,
bringing the agreeable intelligence that he had assisted in killing a
female moose and her calf, and that Augustus had shot a rein-deer. Some
men were sent to carry the meat to the borders of a river which Mr.
Kendall had discovered, while the boat went round to its entrance about
one mile from the encampment. They returned at sunset. Many geese and
ducks were seen by our hunters. Throughout the whole of Mr. Kendall's
walk, of twelve or fourteen miles, he saw only the same kind of flat
land, covered with the dwarf willow and the moose-berry plant, as was
discovered from the tent, except one small lake, and the river that has
been mentioned, issuing from it.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 16th.] The atmosphere was so thick on the morning of
the 16th as to confine our view to a few yards; we therefore remained at
the encampment till the sun had sufficient power to remove the fog:
temperature of the air 39 degrees. Embarking at eleven A.M., we
continued our course along the shore of El