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
like a sharp battle, so rapidly and incessantly were the shots
delivered. It clearly illustrates the advantage of breech-loaders and
magazine guns when game is plentiful and much is required.
[Illustration: THE GREAT BEND IN HAYES RIVER.]
The next day a storm kept us in camp, but on the 9th we pulled out
again and found the sledging in a most wretched condition. The country
was very hilly and the snow entirely gone in many places, so that it
occasioned much halting and considerable trouble to pick out a route by
which the sled could move at all.
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