after being held in the mouth a little while to warm it, is squirted
over the runners and freezes almost immediately in a temperature below
zero. In this way successive layers are applied until a clean, smooth
surface is acquired, upon which the sled slips over the snow with
comparative case. Now, the ice was usually all off the sleds by noon,
and progress was slow and laborious.

[Illustration: HUNTING MUSK-OXEN.]

We got an observation on the 21st at noon, which showed us our latitude
to be 65 deg. 45 min. north, agreeing closely with Lieutenant
Schwatka's dead reckoning. This, according to the chart, would put us
on the north bank of Wager River; but as yet we had seen no signs of
it, nor did we subsequently see anything that looked like such river.
This can be accounted for by the presumption that the survey was made
during the early summer, when the lakes are full, and some of the
valleys connecting them may have contained water enough to float a
boat. Before winter these might dry up and leave only a series of
disconnected lakes. Fresh musk-ox tracks were seen on the 27th, and on
the 29th we lay over to hunt some that Equeesik had seen after coming
into camp on the 28th. After a chase of about three miles we succeeded
in killing four, which completed our musk-ox score, as we saw no more
either in going to or coming from King William Land. May 3d, we found
water at a depth of eight feet, and on the 6th had to dig through eight
and a half feet. This was the thickest ice we saw of one winter's
formation. About noon of the 7th we ran into a herd of fourteen
reindeer, lying down upon a hillside, and in less than three-quarters
of an hour ten of them lay dead upon the field, and I believe those who
got away carried some lead with them. Lieutenant Schwatka, who remained
with the sleds, said that when the firing began it sounded for a while