ealth and vigour of the officers and men, would only extend our
resources to the 30th of April, 1822; it therefore became a matter
of evident and imperious necessity, that the ships should be
cleared from the ice before the close of the season of 1821, so as
to reach some station where supplies might be obtained by the end
of that, or early in the following year.

By the same report, it appeared that the fuel with which we were
furnished could only be made to extend to a period of two years
and seven months, or to the end of November, 1821; and this only
by resorting to the unhealthy measure of both crews living on
board the Hecla during six of the ensuing winter months.

The ships might be considered almost as effective as when the
expedition left England; the wear and tear having been trifling,
and the quantity of stores remaining on board being amply
sufficient, in all probability, for a much longer period than the
provisions and fuel. The health of the officers and men continued
also as good, or nearly so, as at the commencement of the voyage.
Considering, however, the serious loss we had sustained in the
lemon-juice, the only effectual antiscorbutic on which we could
depend during at least nine months of the year in these regions,
as well as the effects likely to result from crowding nearly one
hundred persons into the accommodation intended only for
fifty-eight, whereby the difficulty of keeping the inhabited parts
of the ship in a dry and wholesome state would have been so much
increased, there certainly seemed some reason to apprehend that a
second winter would not leave us in possession of the same
excellent health which we now happily enjoyed, while it is
possible that the difficulty and danger of either proceeding or
returning might have been increased.

A herd of musk-oxen being seen at a little distance from the
ships, a party was despatched in pursuit; and Messrs. Fisher and
Bushnan were fortunate in killing a fine bull, which separated
from the rest of the herd, being too unwieldy to make such good
way as the others. He was, however, by no means caught by our
people in fair chase; for, though these animals run with a
hobbling sort of canter, that makes them appear as if every now
and then about to fall, yet the slowest of them can far outstrip a
man. In this herd were two calves, much whiter than the rest, the
older ones having only the white saddle. In the evening, Sergeant
Martin succeeded in killi