officer in H. M's. navy, and in command of one of the ships of Captain Austin's squadron. From this headland, which is in latitude 75° 27′ or 30′ (there being no observation at the time, owing to thick weather), we could see another point bearing about north-east, which was named after Captain Eden, private secretary of the First Lord of the Admiralty. The ice around Cape Osborne was exceedingly hummocky, some of them being at least thirty feet above the level of the water. They appeared to have been thus raised from their bed in autumn. A very good proof of this will be found in the fact that freshwater ice was found among them, which was only three to four inches in thickness. The ice of last season did not all dissolve, nor did it drift out of those seas; and as the large floes with pools of fresh water upon them, part of which became frozen over, were carried by the drifting process against the land, the fresh-water ice could not escape being piled up along with the ice upon which it was borne along. After the severe frost of October had set in, it appears to me, from the smooth floe on the outside of the squeezed up hummocks on the beach, that the whole pack north-west of Cape Osborne shifted westward. This shift might have been much later, however, than the end of October, for the smooth ice referred

to as the result of it might present similar features even if it had formed in November or December.

The land changed its aspect a little as we advanced eastward; the bold terraces were exchanged for sloping and undulating beaches rising gradually to a height inland equal to that of the table bluffs. It was not unfrequent to be deceived by cairn-like resemblances of hard limestone, which protruded above the surface. If one of those appearances continued to be conical all the time that it remained in sight, after its bearing had been considerably changed as we walked on, we could not rest satisfied without examining it. The seamen were afforded amusement by the wild goose chases their officers had after cairns. I had many times great difficulty in recognising, after reaching the land and the whereabouts, the objects that had attracted me away from the party. After passing some enormous blocks of ice, at least thirty feet above the surface of the water, our day's work being done, we encamped, and a party of two, of whom I happened to be one, went to the land to erect a cairn, by the orders of Captain Stewart, who had to remain at the encampment to take observations, for latitude, &c. &c., as the weather was very clear. After reaching Point Eden, I erected the cairn and left the note. To the east

ward of this point there is a splendid bay, which was called after the Right Honourable Sir Francis T. Baring, the First Lord of the Admiralty. From an elevation of two hundred and fifty feet, in latitude 75° 32', I could see no land extending across the top of Wellington Channel, a circumstance which we were led to think of by the report which we had from H. M. S. " Assistance," together with the report of Mr. Manson on the 26th August 1850. From the same point I could see the land on the west side of Wellington Channel trending to the westward until it dipped beneath the horizon. A ptarmigan and a hare were seen and fired at, but not shot. The hares burrow in the snow; one burrow which I saw measured eight feet in length in a southern exposure, but it never was more than five or six inches beneath the surface. From the appearance of the snow which must have been removed in the process of excavation, it was my impression that the burrow had been open during winter, and this will give rise to the idea that the creature which inhabited it remained in its neighbourhood throughout the winter. The bones of whales found imbedded in the frozen shingle or soil, at a height of two hundred and fifty feet above the sea level, and the cooking places of the Esquimaux long since

deserted, can be associated, and the same date can be applied to both. It may appear strange that the Esquimaux should remove to so great a height the refuse of their labours. Such a procedure is quite at variance with what is known of this race at the present time. They might, however, have laid them out to that distance to be a sort of trap for foxes; or probably wolves might have dragged them to places where they could pick them clean, or gnaw them at their leisure, without molestation from persons at the encampments, which appeared to have been at the beach.

On the following day, the 17th, the latitude was 75° 41'; it was 75° 34' on the previous day. By means of latitudes, which could be depended upon, as being correct within a mile or two, and by bearings from the sun, which guides without permitting any chance of error, there was no difficulty in ascertaining the distances travelled, and our watches, including a chronometer, for which we were indebted to the kindness of Sir John Ross, afforded the time, which enabled us to make out our rate of travelling per hour. Till now I never knew by experience what snow-blindness was. When one requires to haul at the sledge and be led at the same time, he must guard against sprains and frac