It was low water to-day at 11 A.M., the fall of the tide being 8½ feet, and the depth of water within a hundred yards of the beach from 3 to 5 fathoms, on a bottom of mud or sand.
Shortly after noon a fog came on so thick that we could only see a few yards round us; we, however, pushed our way for 2½ miles beyond Cape Lady Pelly, along a flat coast lined with mud banks from eight to ten feet high, frozen solid within a foot of the surface. At 4 P.M. the ice was too closely packed to allow us to proceed; we therefore turned towards the shore, and after some trouble effected a landing. The fog still continued so thick, that, after wandering about for a few miles, I had much difficulty in finding the boat again, hid as it was by the surrounding masses of ice. We were much at a loss for drinkable water, there not being a drop in the neighbourhood but what resembled chocolate in appearance.
In the forenoon some wolves, part of a band that had serenaded us last night with their dismal howlings, were seen prowling about; and a white-winged silvery gull (L. leucopterus), a diminutive sandpiper (tringa minuta), and a marmot were shot.
4th.—There was a drizzling rain with thick fog all night, but not a breath of wind. As the tide flowed the ice moved slowly and silently round us, so that in the morning we had not more than a yard or two of open water near us, being blocked in on all sides by pieces from 15 to 20 feet thick. The rise of the tide was not less than nine feet. In the forenoon I walked upwards of five miles along the shore to the north-westward, passing a few low sandy points about a mile and a half from each other, which formed a succession of small bays, into each of which a ravine with high and steep mud banks opened, down which a streamlet of pea-soup-coloured water flowed. We fell in with the heads and horns of several musk cattle and reindeer, and saw recent footmarks of some of the latter, but they had probably been driven some distance away by the wolves we saw yesterday. Marmots were numerous in every direction, chattering to each other, and rising on their hind legs to obtain a better view of the strangers. Many golden plovers and different kinds of sandpipers were flying about, and a jager (L. parasiticus) was shot: some plants were also collected. The travelling along this coast was extremely fatiguing, being very often nearly knee-deep in a very adhesive mud.
The thermometer rose as high as 70° in the forenoon; in the afternoon it fell to 48°; and in the evening the weather was cold and unpleasant, with heavy rain.
5th.—During the greater part of last night the rain continued, but it was perfectly calm, although by the lead of the clouds we were in hopes of a breeze of wind off shore. Our boat being in danger of injury from some heavy masses of ice that were turning over near us, we moved a dozen yards nearer the land. Our new situation, however, was little better than the one we had left, for as soon as the tide began to ebb large pieces of our "enemy" broke away and fell with a loud crash close alongside of us. It was high-water this morning at 3 o'clock, the rise of the tide being 11 feet 6 inches, whilst that of yesterday evening was only 5½ feet, an irregularity resembling that which was observed by Captain Sir J. Ross on the shores of Boothia. The temperature of the air in the morning was 46°, but rose to 65° during the day, which was very hazy, with occasional showers and a fresh breeze off shore; but this had not the slightest effect upon the ice, and led me to believe that the Esquimaux report as to the navigation being always obstructed here is correct.
Seeing that there was no probability of our getting along shore towards Dease and Simpson's farthest, I determined to retrace our route, and if possible cross over to Melville Peninsula for the purpose of surveying its western shore, towards the Strait of the Fury and Hecla.
In the evening, when the tide, which on the present occasion rose only 4½ feet, was in, we endeavoured to extricate ourselves; and after some hours of hard labour in chopping off some points of ice, and pushing aside such pieces as were not aground, we got a few hundred yards from the beach, and into water a little more open.
About half-past ten a young buck was observed on a piece of ice half-a-mile to seaward, having been forced to take the water to avoid some wolves, one or two of which were seen skulking along shore watching for the return of the animal. The state of our larder did not permit us to be merciful, so the poor deer had little chance of escape from his biped and quadruped enemies when acting in concert. After a long chase he was shot whilst swimming from one floe to another. Having pulled and poled along shore all night, we landed for breakfast at 8 h. 30 m. A.M., on the 6th, about three miles to the south of Point Hargrave. The continued rain and fog had so completely saturated everything with damp that we had not a dry stitch of clothes to put on, and our bedding and fuel were in the same state; fortunately the weather was mild, so that we did not feel much inconvenience from this.
Finding that the ice was clearing away a little—the effect of a south-east wind,—we directed our course towards the nearest point of Melville Peninsula, which bore east (true) of us, distant ten miles, and after threading our way among much heavy and close-packed floes, which obliged us to make frequent and long detours, after five hours' hard work we reached the land during a thunder-storm accompanied by torrents of rain.