Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/169

 greatly aggravated the sore-throats and severe colds with which most of the party were afflicted. We had spared no pains to provide for the health of our people. Each boat's crew was furnished with a tent and oilcloth; and the men were strictly enjoined to carry with them to the sea a sufficiency of blankets and warm clothing to protect them even amidst the rigours of a Polar winter, which, happily, we were not doomed to sustain on this desolate and inhospitable coast.

The fog and cold continued next day. Numerous flocks of white-backed ducks flew near the shore, on their autumnal migration to the westward. A few of us took our station upon hummocks of ice, and shot above a hundred of these large birds. They formed an acceptable change of diet, being fat, and good eating, though rather oily. At various times we saw along the coast, but in comparatively small numbers, Canada, laughing, and Hutchin's geese, large dun-coloured ducks, golden and red-breasted plovers, boatswains, gulls, northern divers, snow buntings, and ptarmigan. The claw of a middle-sized Polar bear was here picked up; likewise