deer immediately came
up to him within gunshot. 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."

On the 29th, one of the men, in returning on board from the daily
occupation of gathering sorrel, found in a hole upon the ice a
small fish, which appeared to be of the whiting species; and, on
going to examine the place where it was picked up, Mr. Edwards and
myself found two others exactly similar. As there was as yet no
communication between the sea and the upper surface of the ice
sufficiently large to admit these fish, it became a matter of
question in what manner they had got into the situation in which
we found them. It appeared most likely that they were frozen on
the surface of the water at the beginning of winter, when the
frost first commenced, and perhaps, therefore, had been floating
there dead. We remarked that, whenever any hard substance is laid
upon the ice in small quantities, it soon makes a deep hole for
itself, by the heat it absorbs and radiates, by which the ice
around it is melted. There were at this time upon the ice
innumerable holes of this kind, some forming small, and others
large pools of water; and in every one of these, without
exception, some extraneous substance, such as seaweed, sand, and
not unfrequently a number of small putrid shrimps were found. In
one of these holes the fish alluded to were found. It was curious
to see how directly contrary was the effect produced upon the ice
by a quantity of straw which was put out upon it in the early part
of May, and which, by preventing the access of warmth, had now
become raised above the general surface more than two feet;
affording a strong practical example of the principle on which
straw is made use of in ice-houses, and, what was at that time of
more importance to us, a proof, how much the upper surface of the
ice had been insensibly wasted by dissolution.

Lieutenant Hoppner returned on the evening of the 29th from his
hunting excursion to the southwest, bringing with him some game,
and, what was to us much more acceptable, the welcome information
that the ice had been observed in motion in the offing on the 22d.
This circumstance was first observed by Messrs. Skene