CHAPTER IV.

State of things at Repulse Bay--Determine to discontinue the survey till the spring--Reasons--Party sent to bring over the boat--Fix on a site for winter residence--Ptarmigan--Laughing geese--Eider and king ducks--Visits of natives too frequent--Return of the party sent for the boat--Report the bay more closely packed than before--Preparations for wintering--Fort Hope built--Proceed to North Pole and Christie Lakes to look out for fishing stations--Purchase dogs--Wariness of the deer--Flocks of geese pass southward--Blue-winged and snow-geese--Their habits--Snow-storm--Its effects--Return to Fort Hope--Daily routine--Signs of winter--Deer numerous--Quantity of game killed--Provision-store built of snow--Great fall of snow--Effects of the cold--Adventure with a deer--Visited by a party of natives--Their report of the ice westward of Melville Peninsula--An island said to be wooded--Produce of the chase in October--Temperature--Two observatories built of snow--Band of wolves--A party caught in a snow-storm--Esquimaux theory of the heavenly bodies--Temperature of November--Diminished supply of provisions 61