noon
We sha n't get down to the capes with this wind , and to-morrow at this time , if the wind holds , we shall be up to Point Escumenac . I do n't care to think what next ; but if , as Peter says , we are to have cold , westerly weather , we must move off into the open Gulf and then -- Well , we shall endure what it pleases God to send us . '' Notwithstanding their fatigue , all were awake at daylight the next morning , and immediately the whole party ascended their lookout . The wind still blew in very nearly the same direction , but with little force , and at noon , as the party sat down to their first meal for the day , no land could be plainly determined , and for an hour the utmost calm prevailed , with an unclouded sun . The pack was still closed , however , with the exception of two or three small openings , in which were seen a seal and several flocks of moniac ducks , known on the Atlantic coast as `` South-Southerlies . '' The former could not be approached , but Peter got two shots at the ducks as they gyrated over the berg , and killed three at one time and four at another , which were duly skinned , and the bodies consigned to the `` meat-safe , '' a hole in the ice near the door . This meal tasted a little better than the former ones , the birds being seasoned with salt procured from sea-water by boiling -- a slow process , which La Salle promised to make easier when the next frost set in .