The Great Frozen Sea

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ot having been found wonderfully prolific of game, more especially of reindeer, during Dr. Hayes's stay. No signs of any inhabitants were visible. This surprised us, as we were fully expecting to meet the natives of the village of Etah, situated only a couple of miles from the anchorage. A visit to the village during the

the whale-boats, with four men, for the purpose of visiting Life-boat Cove, where some of the officers and crew of the "Polaris" spent

low progress, whilst the cold spray flew aft into our faces where it almost froze. After about five hours' hard pulling Life-b

" in 1873-a basket lined with tin, and a trunk, neither of which contained anything of importance; indeed, their contents and the strong odour pervading them convinced us that they were now the property of Eskimos. Strolling on a

h we were surrounded, although no remains of a house were visible, that we were on the site of the Americans' winter quarters. Trunks, boxes, stoves, pi

ollar and black veil, and some faded ribbons; souvenirs from some fair damsel at home, which had probably, from the thoughts their presence created, beguiled many a long and lonely hour during the monotonous winter night. Numerous cair

rst. On one was painted, in good large letters, the word MAUMOKPO; though what

retted that these were not self-registering maximum and minimum thermometers, as it would have been most interest

eeded towards Littleton Island, with our prizes in tow. Diligent search was made for the pendulum said to have been left by the "Polaris" people, but without success: also for the box chronometers and transit instrument, but with a like result. We could only come to the conclusion

ndred feet above the level of the sea, and obtained a round of angles with the theodolite. The view from the top of this hill was very cheering. Cape Sabine was distinctly visible; whilst farther to the northward could be seen the land about Cape Fraser, with no signs o

to shoot any reindeer; one, however, fell to the rifle of an officer of the "Discovery." Very few were seen, and thos

by a zig-zag course that it could be effected. At one moment the way led over loose shingle, that gave way under the feet at every step; at another over a broad patch of frozen snow, one false step on whose slippery surface would precipitate one many hundred feet below; and at another we were clinging despe

Government ship in the following year, or by any enterprising and adventurous whaling captain who should penetrate so far in order to bring us news. The provisions were left as a small dep?t for any sledging party that might be dispatched

on the slopes and crests of the hill, whilst the

extending in our imagination for miles to the northward, we were battling with the pack, consisting of large floes and loose broken-up fields, that extended on both sides of us and as far north as we could

harbour to the southward of Cape Sabine. This bay was formed by a deep indentation in the land having a long jutting-out spit to the S.E. which acted as a famous breakwater, and was protected seawards by Brevoort Island. Here we were detained for five days, although several attempts were made to proceed, which resulted in o

long walks were taken in the neighbourhood, during which a large and rich collection was made in the interests of geology and botany. No game of any description was seen. Traces of Eskimo were discovered,

nsisting of four officers and five men dragging one of our large twenty-feet ice boats on a sledge, started to travel over the pack. Our main

gaged in long-standing pulls on the drag-ropes to the tune of "one, two, three, haul;" at another time the sledge would come down the side of a hummock with such rapidity as to give us hardly time to spring out of the way to avoid the sledge and boat coming over us, and many were the falls in consequence. It

alled by the whalers; but, although a good deal of patience and perseverance was displayed in attempts to har

ious few days, had been most sanguine of pushing on. This was always alluded to in the wa

ny futile attempts, in rounding the Cape. Bearing away to the westward we steered up Hayes Sound, keeping close in to the land, the grounded icebergs giving us timely notice of shoal water. At noon, opening a perfectly land-locked bay, and the ice being so closely packed ahead as to defy farther progress, the vessels were steered for the en

th impatient curiosity for the moment when we

d tumble sort of a scramble over loose masses of gneiss, until we emerged on the banks of the bed of the glacier-that is, the bed formed by the water running f

r-the stupendous and sublime work of ages. How insignificant and despicable did we appear in comparison to this gigantic creation of Nature! I can compare it to nothing except, perhaps, a frozen Niagara! The left-hand glacier was rounded off, like a huge icy wave to its end, whilst it receded from our view in long milky undulations until lost in the clouds. The right-hand one-the lateral and termina

d on our way out the site of an old settlement, and on the way back

in the Polar Regions. A sheltered and well-protected harbour, with a locality abounding in game of various descriptions, are of such importance that it is

have not the slightest doubt that, had we penetrated a little farther into the interior, or had we remained here a day o

ound came from the eastward, but that the ebb coming from the westward was the strongest. Whether Hayes Sou

f great age, would lead one to suppose that the tribe by whom it was left must have had some intercou