Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/286

256 ashore in pursuit of reindeer and musk-cattle, which were grazing in every little valley. A fresh breeze from the north favoured our approach; and the heedless deer were sometimes feeding so near the brink, that we fired at them out of the boats as we glanced past. It was princely sport, and a supply of venison for several days rewarded our exertions. These deer were all lean bucks; the does being already on the coast, casting their young. At length quantities of ice came driving down, disputing the passage with us, and rendering the descent of the narrow, crooked rapids extremely hazardous; for, besides what was visible, we several times struck against water-logged masses that were floating down beneath the surface. It need not be thought extraordinary that ice, saturated with water, should sink, like timber in the same condition. In the beginning of summer, when the porous and dissolving ice has thus attained the same specific gravity with the supporting element, and trembles as it were in the balance, any unusual agitation is sufficient to cause its submersion. In this way it often happens that large lakes, which in the evening are covered with ice, after a windy night, present next morning a perfectly clear surface to the anxious traveller. At other times, for the same reason, the