Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea Part 11

CHAPTER III.

Double Cape Bathurst--Whales--Bituminous-shale Cliffs on Fire--Enter Franklin Bay--Heavy Gale--Peninsula of Cape Parry--Perforated Rock--Detention at Cape Lyon by Wind--Force of an Esquimaux Arrow--Meet with heavy Ice--Pa.s.s Union and Dolphin Straits--Double Cape Krusenstern, and enter George the Fourth's Coronation Gulph--Reach the Coppermine River--Remarks--Meteorological Table.

As soon as we entered the clear green water off Cape Bathurst, we perceived a strong flood tide setting against us, and saw several white whales, and some black ones of a large size, but of a species unknown to Ooligbuck.[9] The natives term them _aggeewoerk_, which is the name given, by the Esquimaux of Hudson's Bay, to the black whales that frequent the Welcome. Many large ma.s.ses of ice were floating about, but they were no impediment to the boats. The beach, from the time we left Esquimaux Lake, was bold, there being two or three fathoms water close to the sh.o.r.e. We hailed this change of circ.u.mstances with pleasure, for the shoals and islands skirting Esquimaux Lake had embarra.s.sed us much, and the brackishness of the water, combined with the trending of the coast to the northward, and even westward, had excited in our minds an apprehension, that we might possibly be obliged to make a great circuit in search of a pa.s.sage, out of that extraordinary piece of water, and that the opening, when found, might lie so far to the northward as to be obstructed by an icy sea. Fortunately our fears were groundless; and, to increase our joy, the coast-line from Cape Bathurst appeared to run in a straight direction for Coppermine River. There were many winter-houses built by the Esquimaux on Cape Bathurst. The cliffs facing the sea were still frozen, but the water trickling down their sides showed that they were thawing rapidly. We encamped on the beach in lat.i.tude 70 degrees 32-1/2 minutes N., longitude 127 degrees 21 minutes W., having sailed that day thirty-seven miles. A plentiful supply of very fine sorrel (_oxyria reniformis_) being obtained from the banks, proved an agreeable addition to our supper.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 19th.] Embarking at four o'clock in the morning of the 19th, we rowed along the coast close to the beach, in from two to three fathoms water. We landed at noon to observe the lat.i.tude; and at four P.M. a thunder-storm coming on, induced us to encamp for the night.

The day's voyage was thirty-two miles, and our encampment was situated in lat.i.tude 70 degrees 11 minutes N., longitude 126 degrees 15 minutes W., on a point which was named after Dr. Fitton, the distinguished President of the Geological Society. No land was visible to seaward, nor were any fields of ice or large floes seen, but we pa.s.sed many smaller pieces and some ma.s.ses, that, having stranded on the beach, were dissolving with great rapidity. A regular tide of six hours affecting the rate of our progress, an allowance was made for it in the reckoning.

The coast consists of precipitous banks, similar in structure to the bituminous-shale cliffs at Whitby, in Yorks.h.i.+re. They gradually increase in alt.i.tude from Cape Bathurst, and near our encampment their height exceeded two hundred and fifty feet. The shale was in a state of ignition in many places, and the hot sulphureous airs from the land were strongly contrasted with cold sea-breezes with which, in the morning, they alternated. The combustion had proceeded to a considerable extent on the point where we landed at noon. Much alum had formed, and the baked clays of yellow, brown, white, and red colours, caused the place to resemble a brick-field or a pottery. This point, which was named after Dr. Traill, of Liverpool, lies in lat.i.tude 70 degrees 19 minutes N. The interior of the country, as seen from the top of the cliffs, appeared to be nearly level, and to abound in small lakes. The soil was clayey, and from the recent thaw wet and soft. Tufts of the beautiful phlox, before mentioned, were scattered over these, otherwise unsightly wastes; and, notwithstanding the scanty vegetation, rein-deer were numerous. Some of the young ones, to whom man was doubtless a novel object, came trotting up to gratify their curiosity, and were suffered to depart unmolested. The sea here abounds in molluscae, and many black whales were seen; also king-ducks, eiders, snow-birds, hawks, and a large moth.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 20th.] We embarked at half-past two on the morning of the 20th, and ran alongsh.o.r.e for two hours with a strong and favourable breeze, when shoals lying off the mouth of a pretty large river, led us six or seven miles from the coast. The breeze, which was off the land, freshened considerably, and raised a short breaking sea, through which we attempted to pull towards the sh.o.r.e, but the boats s.h.i.+pped much water, and made little head-way. We, therefore, set the sails again, and, fortunately fetched under a headland, and effected a landing. The whole of the pemmican in the Union, and some of that in the Dolphin, was wet on this occasion. In the morning we had pa.s.sed two Esquimaux tents, pitched on the beach, but the inmates seeming to be asleep, we did not disturb them, being unwilling to lose the fair wind by any delay.

Soon after landing the weather became very foggy, and the wind increased to a heavy gale. The cliffs at our encampment consisted of slate-clay, and bituminous alum-slate, and were six hundred feet high. The river, whose mouth we pa.s.sed, ran close behind them, having a course parallel to the coast for some miles before it makes its way to the sea. It was named Wilmot Horton River, in honour of the Under Secretary of State for the Colonial Department. Its breadth is about three hundred yards, and it seems, from the quant.i.ty of drift-timber that was piled on the shoals at its mouth, to flow through a wooded country. The length of this day's voyage was twenty-four miles, and the position of our encampment was in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 50 minutes N., longitude 125 degrees 55 minutes W.

At high-water, which took place at a quarter past four in the afternoon, the small slip of beach on which we had encamped was almost covered, and we had to pile the baggage on the shelving cliff. A very showy species of gromwell grew near our encampment, in company with the common sea-gromwell, (_lithospermum maritimum_.)

[Sidenote: Friday, 21st.] On the 21st strong winds and foggy weather, with a considerable surf on the beach, detained us until after eight o'clock in the morning, when many large ma.s.ses of ice coming in, took the ground near the sh.o.r.e, and smoothed the water sufficiently to enable us to embark. The fog was dense to seaward and over the land, but the height of the cliffs left a s.p.a.ce of about a mile from the beach, over which it was carried by the violence of the wind.

About two miles from our late encampment, the bituminous shale was again noticed to be on fire, giving out much smoke; and as we advanced, the cliffs became less precipitous, appearing as if they had fallen down from the consumption of the combustible strata. They gradually terminated in a green and sloping bank, whose summit, about two miles from the sea, rose to the height of about six hundred feet. For the information of the general reader, I may mention that the shale takes fire in consequence of its containing a considerable quant.i.ty of sulphur in a state of such minute division, that it very readily attracts oxygen from the atmosphere, and inflames. The combustion is rendered more lively by the presence of bitumen; and the sulphuric acid, which is one of its products, unites with the alumina of the shale to form, with the addition of a small quant.i.ty of pota.s.s, the triple salt, well known by the name of alum. The moistening of the strata by the sea-spray accelerates the process. In some alum-works, where nature has not been so favourable as in the cliffs of Cape Bathurst, a deficiency of the bituminous matter requisite to keep up the proper intensity of combustion, is supplied by brush-wood, which is strewed in alternate layers with shale that has been previously much divided by long exposure to the weather, and the whole is then moistened with salt-water. A further account of these cliffs is given in page xl. of the Appendix.

In the forenoon we pa.s.sed the mouths of two small rivers, which were designated after Sir Henry Jardine, Bart., King's Remembrancer in the Court of Exchequer for Scotland; and Dr. Burnett, Commissioner of the Victualling Board. A meridian observation was obtained in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 38 minutes N.

In the afternoon the wind blowing more on the sh.o.r.e, caused a tumbling sea. We sailed amongst much stranded ice, and, following the line of coast, were gradually led into a deep bay, whose east side, having a northerly direction, was formed by low land, and so much broken by numerous and extensive inlets, as to look more like a collection of islands than a part of the main land. We were now, reckoning by degrees of longitude, fully half way from Point Separation to the Coppermine River, and the coast from Cape Bathurst had been so exactly in the proper direction, as to excite high hopes of a short and prosperous voyage: it was, therefore, no pleasant sight to us to behold land running out at right angles to our course, and we were willing to believe that a pa.s.sage existed betwixt it and the main. This opinion was supported by the direction of the high land, which had hitherto skirted the sh.o.r.e, continuing to be south-easterly, until lost to the sight at the distance of fifteen or twenty miles. We, therefore, endeavoured to find a pa.s.sage, but the first opening that we came to, led into a circular basin of water, apparently land-locked, and about five miles in diameter. We halted at its entrance to cook our supper, and, during our stay, perceiving that the ebb-tide set out of it, we determined on searching for a pa.s.sage elsewhere. This inlet is six fathoms deep at its entrance, and would prove an excellent harbour for a s.h.i.+p, only for the sand-banks, which skirt this part of the coast, and which render the pa.s.sage into it too intricate for vessels having a greater draught of water than our boats. It was named Langton Harbour, after the agent for the Hudson's Bay Company at Liverpool.

Leaving this harbour, and steering to the northward, we pa.s.sed several inlets, into which the flood-tide set with a strong current. We could not see land towards their bottoms, but their mouths were shoal, and we felt convinced that there was no pa.s.sage through them, because the flood-tide entered them from the westward. [Sidenote: Sat.u.r.day, 22nd.]

We, therefore, proceeded on our voyage without wasting time in examining them; and at two o'clock, on the morning of the 22nd, having come fifty-four miles, we encamped on a beach composed of small fragments of limestone, and strewed with sea-weed. This beach, which received the name of Point Stivens, separates an extensive sheet of salt-water from the sea, and is similar in character to the Chesil Beach, that connects the Isle of Portland to the sh.o.r.e. It varies in breadth from one hundred yards to a quarter of a mile, is several miles long, has a northern direction, and seems to have been formed by the sweep of the tide round the bay, meeting the ebb from the basins that intersects the peninsular promontory with which it is connected. There are several narrow breaches in it through which the tide flows. Anxious to discover the termination of this promontory which was leading us so much out of the direct course to the Coppermine, I went to the summit of a rising ground, about five miles distant, but the view was closed by some small hills, two or three miles off. The soil was clayey, and vegetation scanty.

In taking wood to make a fire, from a large pile of drift-timber which had been collected by the Esquimaux, the nest of a snow-bird, containing four young, was discovered. The parent bird was at first scared away, but affection for its offspring at length gave it courage to approach them with food; and as it was not molested it soon became quite fearless, and fed them with the larvae of insects, whilst the party were seated at breakfast close by the nest.

At nine o'clock, A.M., we embarked again, and running before a favourable breeze, came to a point consisting of cliffs of limestone, twenty feet high, with a small island of the same kind of rock at its extremity. Many large boulders of greenstone were seen here. After ascertaining the lat.i.tude by meridian observation to be 69 degrees 42 minutes N., we continued our voyage along a bold sh.o.r.e, consisting of precipices of limestone, forty or fifty feet high, with three or four fathoms of water at the base. In the evening, having reached a projection which appeared to be the western pitch of the cape, we encamped in a bay near a remarkable perforated rock, having come twenty-six miles since leaving Point Stivens. In the course of the day's voyage we had to make our way through some pretty extensive streams of ice, composed of pieces which rose eight or ten feet above the water; and we saw a considerable quant.i.ty of what is termed sailing ice to seaward, being such as a s.h.i.+p could make her way through. I had now the gratification of naming the extensive bay we had been coasting for three days, after my friend and commanding officer; and to the several inlets on its eastern side I a.s.signed the names of Wright, Cracroft, and Sellwood, in honour of his near relatives. A group of islands to the northward was named Booth Islands on the same account.

In bestowing the name of Franklin on this remarkable bay, I paid an appropriate compliment to the officer, under whose orders and by whose arrangements the delineation of all that is known of the northern coast of the American Continent has been effected; with the exception of the parts in the vicinity of Icy Cape discovered by Captain Beechey. It would not be proper, nor is it my intention, to descant on the professional merits of my superior officer; but after having served under Captain Franklin for nearly seven years, in two successive voyages of discovery, I trust I may be allowed to say, that however high his brother officers may rate his courage and talents, either in the ordinary line of his professional duty, or in the field of discovery, the hold he acquires upon the affections of those under his command, by a continued series of the most conciliating attentions to their feelings, and an uniform and unremitting regard to their best interests, is not less conspicuous. I feel that the sentiments of my friends and companions, Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall, are in unison with my own, when I affirm, that grat.i.tude and attachment to our late commanding officer will animate our b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the latest period of our lives.

After this feeble but sincere tribute of respect and regard, in which I hope I have not overstepped the proper bounds of a narrative, I hasten to resume the details of the voyage.

The country in the neighbourhood of the encampment consisted entirely of limestone, mostly of the variety named dolomite, and, as is usual where that stone prevails, it was extremely barren. The cliffs and points of land present many caverns and perforated rocks, which have very strong resemblances to the windows and crypts of Gothic buildings. The common kittiwake breeds in great numbers on the rocky ledges in this quarter, and their young were already fledged. The temperature during the day was nearly stationary at 46 degrees, the wind south. The evening being very fine, the pemmican was taken out of the bags, which were sc.r.a.ped and dried; and our loss of provision, by the wetting it sustained in the gale of the 20th, proved to be less than we had expected.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 23rd.] Embarking at four o'clock, A.M. of the 23d, we sailed with a favourable breeze for nine miles, betwixt Booth Islands and a sh.o.r.e presenting alternately projecting rocky shoals and narrow inlets. We then landed, and ascended a hill, about seven hundred feet high, to ascertain the direction of the coast, and had the satisfaction of finding that we had now reached the northern extremity of this remarkable promontory. It was named Cape Parry after the distinguished navigator whose skill and perseverance have created an era in the progress of northern discovery, and a letter addressed to him, containing information of our proceedings and of Captain Franklin's as far as was known to us, was deposited under a pile of stones which we erected on the summit of the hill. From this elevated situation, land was faintly seen bearing S.E. by S., about forty miles distant; and from thence round to Booth Islands there appeared an open sea, merely studded with a few streams of sailing ice, but no islands were seen in that direction. There are many well sheltered coves in the vicinity of Cape Parry and amongst Booth Islands, but the bottom is rocky, and numerous reefs render the navigation unsafe for a s.h.i.+p. The eastern side of Cape Parry exhibits a succession of limestone cliffs, similar to those which form its western sh.o.r.es; and as we continued our voyage, we pa.s.sed many excavations ornamented by graceful slender pillars, and exhibiting so perfect a similarity to the pure Gothic arch, that had Nature made many such displays in the Old world, there would be but one opinion as to the origin of that style of architecture. A small island, on which we landed to cook breakfast, was named after the late Daniel Moore, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn. It was composed of a cellular limestone, containing many crystals of quartz. The whole party went in pursuit of a polar hare which was seen here, but, although it had no other shelter than the rocks, it contrived to escape from us all.

In the evening we encamped on an island, which was named by Mr. Kendall after the Reverend Dr. Burrow of Epping. It is situated in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 49 minutes N., longitude 123 degrees 33 minutes W. The length of the day's voyage was thirty-one miles. Fine weather, and a temperature of 52 degrees, entailed upon us a visit from the musquitoes. The sea water here is of a light blue colour and clear, the bottom being distinctly visible in five fathoms. Pieces of ice still adhered to the cliffs.

[Sidenote: Monday, 24th.] We were detained in the morning of the 24th by a thick fog, which cleared up about eight o'clock; but the moon being then in distance, we remained until noon, that Mr. Kendall might take observations for lunars and lat.i.tude. These necessary operations being completed, a short voyage of nine miles brought us to an island on which we encamped, and which obtained from us the name of Clapperton, in honour of the undaunted explorer of central Africa. In our way we pa.s.sed through several streams of ice, composed of pieces of considerable size, but all evidently in a state of rapid dissolution, under a bright sun; the water flowing from their surfaces in rivulets. Many black whales, and various kinds of seals, were seen this day. We saw no black whales farther to the eastward.

From Clapperton Island we had a view of a ridge of hills, which, from their direction, appeared to be a continuation of those on the west side on Franklin Bay. The island itself, like the neighbouring coast, is composed of limestone, and many detached rocks skirt it, rising from water that is beautifully clear. When we landed there was a strong current setting to the eastward, round the end of the island, but it ceased at four P.M., the time of low water, and was probably produced by the ebb setting out of some of the inlets of Cape Parry. In the evening the ice made a noise so like the regular firing of half-minute guns, as to excite, at first, an idea that we heard the guns of a s.h.i.+p. The temperature at six o'clock in the evening was as high as 74 degrees in the shade.

Clapperton Island lies in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 41-1/2 minutes N., and nearly in the longitude of Fort Franklin, from which it is distant three hundred and thirteen miles in a straight line; but the distance between the nearer part of the Great Bear Lake and the Arctic Sea here, does not much exceed one hundred and ninety miles.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 25th.] Taking advantage of a light breeze and very fine weather, we embarked at midnight, and crossed over to the east side of the bay, pa.s.sing through some heavy streams of ice by rather intricate channels. At half past five in the morning of the 25th, we landed on a point of the main sh.o.r.e, and Mr. Kendall took observations for three sets of lunars. On re-embarking we proceeded a few miles further, when a heavy gale of wind suddenly springing up, we ran for shelter into a small creek at the extremity of a cape, which I named after the distinguished traveller Captain G.F. Lyon, R.N. The bay which lies betwixt it and Cape Parry, was called Darnley, in honour of the Earl of Darnley. The distance from Clapperton Island to Cape Lyon is fourteen miles.

The country in the neighbourhood of Cape Lyon presents a surface varied by gently swelling eminences, covered with a gra.s.sy sward, and intersected by several narrow ridges of naked trap rocks, rising about one hundred and fifty feet above the general level. The trap ridges, when they reach the coast, form high cliffs, and the clay-slate and limestone lie in nearly horizontal strata beneath them. The view inland was terminated by the range of hills which we had seen at the bottom of Darnley Bay, to which the name of Melville Range was now given, in honour of the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Melville.

From the top of the highest trap-hill, near the extremity of the cape, we saw some heavy ice to seaward, but with enough of open water for the pa.s.sage of a s.h.i.+p; and, occasionally, during our stay, there was an appearance of land to the north-westward, occupying two points of the compa.s.s; but we were uncertain whether it might not be a fog-bank hanging over a field of ice. If it was land, it could not be less than twenty-five or thirty miles distant, and must, from the portion of the horizon it occupied, be a large island. Upon the summit of the hill we erected a pile of stones, and deposited another letter for Captain Parry, containing a short account of our proceedings.

A gale of wind detained us two days at Cape Lyon, during which Ooligbuck supplied us with rein-deer meat, and Mr. Kendall obtained several sets of lunars. The lat.i.tude of our encampment, by the mean of three meridian observations, was 69 degrees 46-1/2 minutes N.; and the longitude, by lunar distances, 122 degrees 51 minutes W. The temperature of the air, during the gale, was about 45 degrees, that of the water 35 degrees.

During our stay at Cape Lyon the tides were regular, but the rise and fall were short of twenty inches. At midnight on the 26th of July, the sun's lower limb was observed to touch the horizon for the first time since our arrival on the coast. Some old winter houses were seen in our walks, but we perceived no indications of the Esquimaux having recently visited this quarter.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 27th.] The gale moderated on the 27th, and at eight in the evening it was sufficiently abated to permit us to proceed on our voyage. After rowing about two miles, the horns of a deer were seen over a rock at the summit of a cliff, on which M'Leay, the c.o.xswain of the Union, landed and killed it. This poor animal had been previously wounded by an Esquimaux arrow, which had broken its shoulder bone. The jagged bone-head of the arrow was buried in the flesh, and its copper point bent up where it had struck the bone. The wound was open, and seemed to have been inflicted at least a fortnight before, but the animal was still fat. The extremity of Cape Lyon lies about three miles north-east of the encampment we had left, and in its neighbourhood the cliffs form bold headlands and several small rocky islands. Soon after rounding it we came to a projecting point, consisting of cliffs of limestone, in which there was a remarkable cave, opening to the sea by an archway, fifty feet high and twenty wide. The walls of the cavern were two hundred feet high, and a large circular aperture in the roof gave free admission to the daylight. Mr. Kendall named this point after Mr. Pearce, a particular friend of his.

The night was fine but cold, the temperature having fallen to 35 degrees soon after we started, and at midnight the sun sunk for nearly half an hour beneath the horizon. [Sidenote: Friday, 28th.] We pa.s.sed much heavy stream-ice, and towards the morning a quant.i.ty of new, or, as the seamen term it, "bay ice," having formed on the surface on the sea, the boats were so much r.e.t.a.r.ded that we put ash.o.r.e at four o'clock of the 28th, to wait until the increasing heat of the day dissolved it. The point on which we landed was named after Admiral Sir Richard G.o.dwin Keats, G.C.B., Governor of Greenwich Hospital, and lies in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 49 minutes N. and longitude 122 degrees W., being about eighteen miles distant from our encampment on Cape Lyon. The rocks at Point Keats consist of flesh-coloured sandstone. The Melville range of hills approaches there within eight or ten miles of the sea, and the intervening country is traversed by ridges of greenstone. On the coast from Cape Lyon to Point Keats there is a line of large drift timber, evidently thrown up by the waves, about twelve feet perpendicular height, above the ordinary spring tides: a sufficient proof of the sea being nearly clear of ice at the time it was thrown up; for the presence of any considerable quant.i.ty, even of stream-ice, prevents the waves from rising high. After two hours halt, the bay-ice having dissolved we re-embarked.

From Cape Lyon to Point Keats the coast runs nearly east; after quitting the latter we found it trending a little to the southward, and from a point, which was named in honour of John Deas Thompson, Esq., Commissioner of His Majesty's Navy, it has nearly a south-east direction. We landed a little to the eastward of Point Deas Thompson, to take a meridian observation for lat.i.tude, in a small bay, bounded by cliffs of limestone, one hundred and forty feet high, in which the waves had sculptured some beautiful Gothic arches. From the summit of the cliffs we saw a dark appearance in the eastern horizon, but it was too indistinct to permit us to decide whether it was land or merely a fog-bank. To the eastward of these cliffs the coast decreased in height, and, at the distance of five miles, we pa.s.sed a small river, which was named after Francis Palgrave, Esq. Near this river, on the summit of a cliff, which was twenty-five feet high, we noticed several large logs of drift timber, with some hummocks of gravel, that appeared to have been thrown up by the waves. A portion of the Melville Range lies within three miles of the sh.o.r.e there; and one of its most remarkable hills was named after my esteemed friend, William Jackson Hooker, LL.D., Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow; and another after Colonel Colby, of the Royal Engineers, one of the Members of the Board of Longitude. About four o'clock in the afternoon we came to a stream flowing from a lake, and as it was an excellent boat harbour, we entered it and encamped. It was named Roscoe, after the eloquent historian of the Medici; and a conical hill of the Melville Range, visible from its mouth, received the name of the venerable geographer Major Rennel.

We pa.s.sed this day through heavier and more crowded streams of ice than any we had previously seen on the voyage. The navigation amongst it was tedious and difficult, and just before we put ash.o.r.e much motion was imparted to it by a fresh south-west wind. The temperature during the day varied from 35 degrees to 50 degrees. The mouth of Roscoe River lies in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 41 minutes N., longitude 121 degrees 2 minutes W., and is forty-eight miles distant from Cape Lyon.

[Sidenote: Sat.u.r.day, 29th.] We embarked on the 29th, with a fair wind; but the ice lay so close, that we could not venture to set more than a reefed foresail, and were ultimately obliged to lower the sail entirely, and to find a pa.s.sage through ice with oars and poles. The pieces of ice were of sufficient magnitude to deserve the name of floes, and were sometimes several fathoms thick. They were all moving before the breeze, which caused them to arrange themselves in the form of streams parallel to the coast, and, consequently, left lanes of open water in the direction of our course. These lanes, however, were continually changing their form; and, on several occasions, when we had been tempted by the favourable appearance of a piece of open water to venture from the coast, we had great difficulty in extricating ourselves from the ice which closed around us. The thickness of the ice led me to conclude that the sea had not been long open in this quarter; and I observed that the vegetation was later on this part of the coast than on the western side of Cape Parry.

For the first twelve miles after leaving our encampment, the coast was low and sandy; the Melville Range still forming the back-ground, at the distance of four or five miles from the sea. The low beaches were terminated by a rocky headland, which obtained from us the name of De Witt Clinton, as a testimony of our sense of the urbanity and love of science which had prompted his Excellency the Governor of the state of New York[10] to show so much attention to the members of the Expedition, in their pa.s.sage through his government. Some miles beyond Point De Witt Clinton we came to a steep cliff, where the ice was so closely packed that we could not force a pa.s.sage. The cargoes were, therefore, carried along the foot of the cliff, and the boats launched for a few yards over a piece of ice. In this operation, the shelving base of an iceberg, which had formed under the cliff, and still adhered to it, but which was undermined by the waves, gave way whilst several of the men were standing upon it; but, fortunately, it did not overset, and they received no injury, as it was large enough to support them in the water.

At nine o'clock, A.M., we were stopped by the closeness of the ice, and put ash.o.r.e until the tide or wind should produce some change.

The tides, since leaving the Mackenzie, had never been observed to have a greater rise than eighteen inches: but in the neighbourhood of our encampment, the sea-wrack and lines of drift timber indicated a was.h.i.+ng of the sea to the perpendicular height of twenty feet. The country in this vicinity consists of a bluish limestone, interstratified with slate-clay: and naked and rugged ridges of trap rocks rise in various places above the general level. The soil is composed of clay and limestone gravel. The lat.i.tude of our encampment was ascertained, by meridian observation, to be 69 degrees 29 minutes N.; its longitude was 120 degrees 20 minutes W.; and its distance from Roscoe River was twenty-five miles.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 30th.] A breeze of wind from the land having opened a pa.s.sage two miles wide, we embarked at two o'clock in the morning of the 30th, and ran seven miles under sail; when, having overtaken the ice which had pa.s.sed in the night, we found it too closely packed to allow us to proceed. In making for the beach, the Union narrowly escaped being crushed by two large floes of ice, which came together with violence just as she was about to run betwixt them. The Dolphin had sailed through the same pa.s.sage not two minutes before. From an eminence near our encampment, we had the unpleasant view of a sea covered, as far as the eye could reach, with ice, excepting a few lanes of open water far to seaward. The tide fell here seven inches in the morning, and eleven in the evening, although the north-west wind increased in the afternoon to a pretty strong gale. The greater fall of the water with that wind, showing that it found an exit to the eastward, relieved us from an apprehension, which we had begun to entertain, that we were entering a deep bay, which might be enc.u.mbered by the drift-ice for many days. Much ice drove past us in the course of the day, before a west-north-west wind, its progress being only slightly checked for a time by the flood tide. Recent footsteps of a small party of Esquimaux were seen on the beach. Our encampment was situated in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 24 minutes N., and longitude 120 degrees 03 minutes W.

[Sidenote: Monday, 31st.] Embarking on the 31st, at two o'clock in the morning, we succeeded in getting about six miles through the ice: when we were again obliged to put ash.o.r.e at the mouth of a small river, which was named after James Buchanan, Esq., his Majesty's Consul at New York, whose friendly attention to the officers of the Expedition well ent.i.tled him to their grat.i.tude. After waiting for a while the tide loosened the ice a little, and we made some progress by debarking upon the floes, and pus.h.i.+ng them apart with poles, until a sufficient opening was made. This operation was tedious, and not devoid of hazard to the boats, arising from the rotatory motion frequently given to the floes, by the pressure of the body of the ice. At noon, an observation for lat.i.tude was obtained on a projecting point, which was named after William Tinney, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn. At three in the afternoon, our progress being again arrested by the compactness of the ice, we hauled the boats upon the beach, and M'Leay having killed a fat buck rein-deer, the party had an excellent supper after the fatigues of the day. The length of the day's voyage was twenty-two miles; the lat.i.tude of our encampment, 69 degrees 17-1/2 minutes N., and its longitude 119 degrees 27 minutes W.

The coast line in this quarter is lower, few of the cliffs exceeding forty feet in height, and there is a greater proportion of flat beach than occurs nearer Cape Lyon. The ground is strewed with gravel, apparently arising from a limestone conglomerate which exists there in considerable quant.i.ty. The Melville Range is within four or five miles of the sh.o.r.e at this place, and does not rise more than five hundred feet above the sea. Many small rivulets flow from the rising grounds into the sea, through wide gravelly beds, indicating that at times they swell into large torrents.

[Sidenote: August 1st.] A light westerly wind having opened a narrow channel between the ice and the sh.o.r.e, we embarked early in the morning of the 1st of August, and, three miles from our encampment, came to a river, which discharged itself by various shallow mouths, separated by sand banks. Its westernmost and easternmost mouths were five miles apart; and the latter, which was the largest, was one hundred and fifty yards wide. Although the outlet of this river is so much barred up, it discharges a considerable volume of water, and probably has its sources in the hills which are visible from the northern sh.o.r.es of Great Bear Lake. It was named after John Wilson Croker, Esq., Secretary to the Admiralty. Further on we had a view of a high island, lying ten or twelve miles from the sh.o.r.e, which received the appellation of Sir George Clerk's Island. M'Leay, who was now acknowledged to be our best hunter, was sent in pursuit of a deer, which we saw from the boats, and being successful, we landed to cook our breakfast, after having rowed twenty miles in the course of the morning. An observation for lat.i.tude was obtained a mile further at a point which was named after Waller Clifton, Esq., Secretary to the Victualling Board, The coast here makes a turn to the southward, and about six miles further on, where it resumes its easterly direction, a river about one hundred yards wide flows into the sea, betwixt two sand hills. To this river Mr. Kendall gave the name of Inman, out of respect to the Reverend and Learned Professor of the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth. A conical hill, about ten miles distant, in a south-west direction, was named after the late President of the Royal Society, the highly distinguished Sir Humphry Davy, Baronet. This was the last part we saw of the Melville Chain. We encamped at half past seven in the evening, under a high cliff of limestone, having advanced during the day thirty-seven miles. The point on which we encamped, received from Mr. Kendall, the name of Wise, after Captain M.F. Wise, of the Royal Navy, under whose command he sailed in His Majesty's s.h.i.+p Spartan. It is situated in lat.i.tude 69 degrees 03-1/2 minutes N., longitude 118 degrees W.

The coast from Cape Clifton to Point Wise consists of limestone in horizontal layers, forming cliffs, which are separated from each other by intervening shelving beaches, and it is skirted to the distance of a quarter of a mile by rocky shoals, having sufficient water on them for our boats, but not enough to admit the heavy ice. This was the cause of our making greater progress than we had been led to expect from the appearance of the ice in the morning. The cliffs at Point Wise are two hundred feet high, and from their summits, the ice appeared closely packed, as far as the eye could reach; no lanes of open water being visible. It was, however, composed of pieces, and not a continuous field, for we could distinctly perceive that several of the hummocks it inclosed were in motion. This was the first time during the voyage that we saw ice so closely packed, as to appear impenetrable to a s.h.i.+p when impelled by a good breeze, but it is necessary to state that, even from a considerable height, we could not tell with certainty the state of the ice six miles off; scattered pieces at that distance a.s.suming the appearance of a close pack. The weather this day was fine, the temperature varying from 43 degrees to 50 degrees.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 2d.] Soon after setting out on the 2d, the temperature, which had been about 40 degrees throughout the night, fell to 34 degrees, and a fog came on. The wind also freshening and putting the ice in motion, the boats received some heavy blows; but we continued to advance, though slowly, and with much caution. About ten miles from our encampment, we pa.s.sed the mouth of a small river, which was named after Captain Hoppner, of the Royal Navy, second in command to Captain Parry, on his third voyage of discovery. Towards noon the fog cleared away, and a meridian observation was obtained in lat.i.tude 68 degrees 56 minutes N. Three miles further on we arrived at the mouth of a wide but shallow river, which flowed over a rocky bottom, betwixt two sand hills, and joined the sea by several mouths, separated by shoals. To this river Mr. Kendall gave the name of his friend, Lieutenant Harding, of the Royal Navy. Five miles beyond this river, on the extremity of a rocky cape, the Esquimaux had constructed several store-houses, of drift timber, which were filled with dried deer-meat and seal-blubber; along with which, cooking kettles, and lamps made of potstone, copper-headed spears, and various other articles, were carefully laid up. The ashes of the recently extinguished fires showed that the natives had quitted this place only a few days, and we felt much pleasure in figuring to ourselves the surprise and joy with which they would behold, on their return, the iron utensils that we deposited in the store-houses for their use. The cape received the name of "Young," after the learned Secretary to the Board of Longitude.

From Cape Young we had a view of the sea thickly covered with ice, of a greater thickness than any we had previously encountered; and we perceived that there was a deeply indented bay lying in our route, and so filled with ice, that our only method of pa.s.sing it appeared to be by keeping close to the sh.o.r.e, although under the disadvantage of trebling the distance. The coast in this quarter is similar to that which we had pa.s.sed on the two or three preceding days, and is formed of high limestone cliffs, with intervening s.h.i.+ngly beaches; but the country is still more barren, the quant.i.ty of limestone debris almost excluding any soil. Flat limestone rocks, having only a few inches of water upon them, skirt the beach, and terminate like a wall in four or five fathoms water. The ice was closely packed against these rocks, and for five miles after pa.s.sing Cape Young, we made a way for the boats only by the constant use of the hatchet and ice-chisel, and gladly encamped at six o'clock in the evening, after a day's voyage of thirty-one miles. A herd of twenty rein-deer were grazing on the beach, but our hunters were too much fatigued to go in pursuit of them. The encampment was situated in lat.i.tude 68 degrees 53 minutes N., and longitude 116 degrees 50 minutes W. The temperature varied in the course of the day from 34 degrees to 50 degrees. We observed that the ice continued to dissolve, but not so rapidly as in the month of July, when the sun did not sink below the horizon.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 3rd.] We resumed our operations on the morning of the 3d at the usual hour, and with great labour made a pa.s.sage for the boats. At eleven o'clock we landed to refresh ourselves on a projecting point at the western entrance of a deep bay, having previously pa.s.sed a river which was about one hundred yards wide, but very shallow. After breakfasting, and obtaining a meridian observation in lat.i.tude 68 degrees 53 minutes N., we pushed off again, and for some time made very slow progress. The sh.o.r.es of the bay consisted of beds of limestone, which, shelving into the water, were covered with ma.s.ses of ice, forced up by the pressure of the pack outside. We were, therefore, compelled to work our way in deeper water, and there the boats, which led by turns, were occasionally exposed to the hazard of being overset by pieces of buoyant ice, which frequently broke off from the bases of the floes. In the language of the whalers, the ice is said to _calf_, when ma.s.ses are detached in this manner, and they are sometimes of sufficient magnitude in the Greenland seas to endanger large vessels. The Dolphin was, at one time, nearly crushed to pieces by the closing of two floes; but, fortunately, she had reached a small recess, just as they came in contact, and they recoiled sufficiently to leave a pa.s.sage for her exit, after she had sustained the trifling damage of a few cracks in the upper planks. The rays of the sun, and the waves acting on the surface of the floes, had, by thawing them irregularly, formed lakes of fresh water of some extent upon their surface. When these pieces of water were of sufficient depth, we availed ourselves of them to make some progress in our voyage, and in this way we frequently sailed over a considerable thickness of ice.

At four o'clock P.M. we had advanced five miles, when to our joy we found a lane of open water, which permitted us to cross to the other side of the bay, where we encamped in lat.i.tude 68 degrees 51-1/2 minutes N., and longitude 116 degrees 03 minutes W., having sailed in the course of the day eighteen miles and a half. The bay was named Stapylton in honour of Major-General the Honourable G.A.C. Stapylton, Chairman of the Victualling Board; and on ascending a rising ground we perceived that it communicates with a long, narrow lake. A few miles from the coast the land rises from three to five hundred feet above the sea, and presents many precipitous limestone cliffs, and chains of small lakes. The country is very barren, the only plant we gathered being the yellow poppy, (_papaver nudicaule_.) By our reckoning we were now nearly in the longitude of the mouth of the Coppermine River, but about seventy miles to the northward of it, we, therefore, entertained an opinion that we were coasting a narrow peninsula, and that we should soon have the pleasure of perceiving the coast take a southerly direction. It was, consequently, with some hopes of beholding the sea on the opposite side of the peninsula that I walked seven or eight miles to the eastward in the night, but I was disappointed. In my way I had occasion to wade through a small lake, when two birds, about the size of the _northern diver_, and apparently of that genus, swam, with bold and angry gestures, to within a few yards of me, evidently very impatient of any intruder on their domain. Their necks were of a beautiful pale yellow colour, their bodies black with white specks. I considered them to belong to a species not yet described, and regretted that, having left my gun at the tent, it was not in my power to procure one of them for a specimen.

[Sidenote: Friday, 4th.] Embarking at three A.M. on the 4th, we found little difficulty in reaching the eastern cape of Stapylton Bay, the wind having formed a narrow channel between the ice and the sh.o.r.e in the night. The temperature was low, and in the morning some new ice was formed which we easily broke. We noticed several eider ducks breaking a way through the thin ice for their young ones with their wings, and in this operation they made greater progress than we did in the boats.

On reaching the cape[11] which was named after Vice-Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, G.C.B., we descried another point about four or five leagues distant, bearing east-north-east, the intervening bay being filled with closely packed ice. We were now within twelve miles of Cape Young, after a laborious navigation of four times that distance, and the prospect of another bay, equally unpromising, was very vexatious; but our apprehensions were increased by the view of a continuous line of land, extending from north-north-west until it was hid behind the nearer cape, which bore east-north-east, for we feared that it might prove to be a continuation of the main sh.o.r.e. Our crews, though concerned at the delay that so much ice was likely to occasion, set about overcoming the obstacle with a hearty good will, and after an intricate and troublesome navigation of ten or twelve miles amongst the ice, we found the bottom of the bay more open, and were enabled to cross over to the eastern side where we encamped. This bay received the name of the eminent astronomer James South, Esq.

Mr. Kendall having gone to ascertain from the higher ground the trending of the coast, returned in about two hours with the cheering intelligence that the land to the northward was unconnected with the main sh.o.r.e, and that he had seen the latter inclining to the south-east, with a much more open sea than we had lately been accustomed to. As soon as supper was over, I also set out to enjoy the gratifying prospect, and from the extremity of the cape on which we were encamped, and which was named in honour of the Right Honourable Lord Bexley, I beheld the northern land running from north-north-west till it was lost in the horizon on a north 73 degrees east bearing. It seemed to be pretty high but not mountainous; and although broken towards the east, the princ.i.p.al portion of it appeared to be continuous. This island, by far the largest one that was seen, either in the present voyage or on Captain Franklin's former Expedition, was named after that most distinguished philosopher Dr. Hyde Wollaston. The main sh.o.r.e had a direction nearly parallel to Wollaston Land, its most distant point in sight, which I estimated to be fifteen miles off, bearing S. 61 degrees E. On the strait, separating the two sh.o.r.es, I bestowed the names of our excellent little boats, the Dolphin and Union. It varies in width from twelve to twenty miles, and to the eastward seemed to contain merely detached streams of ice, not likely to obstruct the progress of a vessel; but to the westward lay the closely packed ice, filling South's Bay, and extending to seaward. The ice did not, however, entirely close the strait, for I could discern lanes of open water towards Wollaston Land. The packed ice which we had seen lining the coast between Point Clifton and Cape Bexley, may be perhaps considered as an ill.u.s.tration of the remark made by Captain Parry, that the western sides of seas and inlets in those lat.i.tudes are more enc.u.mbered with ice than the opposite sides; and it is very probable that a s.h.i.+p might have found a pa.s.sage by keeping along Wollaston Land, an opinion which the appearance of the ice as seen from Cape Bexley, tended to confirm. The lat.i.tude of our encampment was 68 degrees 58 minutes N., and its longitude 115 degrees 47 minutes W.; it was within ten miles of our encampment of the preceding night, although we had travelled twenty-five miles in the course of the day.

[Sidenote: Sat.u.r.day, 5th.] The party embarked on the 5th, at the usual hour in the morning, with their spirits pleasantly excited by the intelligence of the favourable trending of the coast, communicated by Mr. Kendall, and after doubling Cape Bexley, proceeded under sail, before a west-north-west wind, with a rapidity to which they had lately been unaccustomed. The point of land which Cape Bexley terminates, consists entirely of horizontal beds of limestone, and is nowhere more than three hundred feet above the sea. On the west side, the water is two or three fathoms deep, close to the sh.o.r.e, and the land attains its greatest elevation by a steep rise from the beach. On the east side there are some precipitous cliffs, but the coast in general is skirted by shelving rocks. No soil was seen on the Cape, nor any appearance of vegetation, the ground being every where covered, to the depth of a foot, by fragments of limestone, which are detached by the frost from the solid strata lying beneath. We were much puzzled at first with the appearance of several parallel trenches, a foot deep, running for a great distance amongst the fragments, but on examination they were ascertained to originate in fissures of the subjacent strata. Much quartz being intermixed with the limestone of Cape Bexley, the fragments which covered the ground had, by the action of the weather, lost most of the softer calcareous matter, and were converted into a kind of rasp, very annoying to pedestrians, being capable of destroying a pair of stout English shoes in a walk of a few hours.

At eleven o'clock we came to a pack of ice ab.u.t.ting against the sh.o.r.e, but while we halted to cook breakfast, the wind opened a way for us. In the course of the morning we pa.s.sed many heavy streams of ice, separated by lanes of open water, which would have afforded an easy pa.s.sage for a s.h.i.+p. Having obtained a meridian observation for lat.i.tude, we re-embarked, and pulled for five miles through an open channel, to Point c.o.c.kburn, on the opposite side of a bay, which appeared to be four or five miles deep, and to be quite filled with drift-ice. Many deer were seen grazing near this point, but we did not stop to send a hunter in pursuit of them. We afterwards crossed several other indentations of the coast, skirted by reefs of limestone and low islets, and encamped on Chantry Island, lying close to the main sh.o.r.e, in lat.i.tude 68 degrees 45 minutes N., longitude 114 degrees 23 minutes W., having sailed thirty-nine miles in the course of the day. Two islands, lying opposite to our encampment, received the appellations of Manners Sutton and Sir Robert Liston's Islands. The degree of motion in the ice, which was drifting between these islands and the sh.o.r.e, indicated a stronger current of both flood and ebb than we had hitherto seen.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 6th.] On the 6th, we commenced the day's voyage at three in the morning, but were compelled to put ash.o.r.e soon afterwards by a stream of ice barring our way. At six o'clock, however, the flowing tide opened it sufficiently to enable us to push the boats along with poles, our progress being occasionally facilitated by the rocky reefs, which kept the heavier ma.s.ses from pressing down upon us. Much of the ice lay aground, in nine fathoms, but none of it rose more than five or six feet above the surface of the water. We estimated the velocity of the flood tide, off some of the rocky points, at three miles an hour, and at such places we had much trouble in endeavouring to keep the boats clear of the drifting ice. The circular motion which the pieces occasionally acquired was particularly difficult to guard against, and had we not depended on the tongues of ice, which, lying deep under water, prevented the upper parts of the floes to which they belonged from coming in contact, we should scarcely have ventured amongst them.

We did not, however, entirely escape, for the Dolphin was caught between a floe and a piece that lay aground, and fairly raised out of the water by the pressure, which broke one of her timbers and several of her planks. We put ash.o.r.e on a small island to repair the damage, and during our stay Mr. Kendall had a meridian observation in lat.i.tude 68 degrees 36-1/2 minutes N. Another island, lying about two miles from the main land, was distinguished by the name of Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., Vice-President of the Linnean Society. The sea water there was beautifully clear.