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offered no inducement for any one to linger there so we leaped ashore Mr. Reynolds with the American Flag and started for the gently sloping hillside. As we reached the beach the crew of the "Corwin" crowding the forecastle gave us 3 times 3 rousing cheers backed by the Corwins whistle to which we replied with equal spirit. Then we scattered about this way & that on the hills which we found very wet & muddy from recent rains and also very sterile as the shaling slate covered the surface with fine soft fragments in spite of which however a sparce scattered vegetation dotting the ground here & there with green leaves gave a little relief to a stretch of bare desolation whose cold fog obscured shores appeared to repel any attempt to invade their silent [[strikethrough]] depths [[/strikethrough]] and unknown wilds. Walking alone over the ground where every plant was a dwarf of its species and where for every one or two plants there seemed to exist a foot or more of crumbling slate & mud the utter desolation of the country without a sign of animal life seemed to strike into ones mind with a chill feeling impossible to describe. A few yards farther I reached the top of a small rise & was much pleased to see a Snowy Owl rise & fly hurriedly away though I was fully 250 yds distant from it A little later I found some Lemming holes in dryer spots and near the banks of the river in two 

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