CHAPTER XVII.

Signs of release--Dearth of animal life--Owl is good beef--Beat out of winter quarters--Our game-list--Reach Fury Beach--Escape from Regent's Inlet--In Baffin's Bay--Captain Allen Young's journey--Disco; sad disappointment--Part from our Esquimaux friends--Adieu to Greenland--Arrive home.

{SIGNS OF RELEASE.}

To-day (_2nd July_) I took a long and delightful walk, but shot only two ducks; Petersen went in another direction, and got nothing; Christian, after toiling all day in his kayak, returned with only two divers and a duck. Lately he has obtained for us several king and long-tailed ducks (no eider ducks have been seen), two red-throated divers, and two brent geese, and caught an ermine in its summer coat. Yesterday one of the men brought on board a trout weighing 2 lbs.; he saw a glaucous gull and a fox disputing for it; the former seems to have killed and brought it to land.

The water now washes the south side of the Fox Islands, and extends to the south point of Long Island. The month of June has been somewhat warmer than usual, its mean temperature being +35-1/2°.

_9th._--The ship has been thoroughly cleaned and restowed, remaining provisions examined, tanks filled with fresh water, 12 tons of stone ballast taken in, and everything brought on board that was landed last autumn. Hobson is the only one upon the sick list; but he is able to walk about and does duty. Very few birds, and only one small seal, have been obtained during the week; an occasional great northern diver is seen, and a rare land bird has been shot. We cannot discover the nests of either ducks or geese, and the breeding cliffs of the gulls being inaccessible, we have not got any eggs. I am a close prisoner at the corner of my table, poring over my observation and angle book, and have at length laid down upon paper the west coast of King William's Land to my satisfaction. Tidal observations are commenced; and the aneroid and mercurial barometers are again being compared in order to verify the former.

{SHOOTING SEALS.}

_16th. Saturday night._--We are now almost ready for sea. There is a much larger space of water in Bellot Strait, reaching within 300 or 400 yards of us. Long cracks or lanes of water have been seen in Prince Regent's Inlet. The decay of the ice continues, though not with equal rapidity, yet with very satisfactory despatch. Westerly winds and clear weather prevail. Christian has seen two reindeer this week, and has shot a very few birds, and seven seals. As these creatures lie basking upon the ice, he crawls up to them behind a small calico screen, fitted upon a miniature sledge about a foot long, on which there is a rest for the muzzle of his rifle, and a slit in the calico through which he fires it. The seals afford an average weight of thirty pounds of excellent fresh meat, which we relish greatly, and consider much better suited to our present condition than such poor venison as reindeer would furnish at this season. A single hare has been shot; the white fur has nearly all disappeared, and left exposed the summer coat of dull lead color. Several small birds not common to the northward are found here. Insects abound; the Doctor is perpetually in chase, unless busily occupied in grubbing up plants. Young is surveying the harbor. Hobson fully occupied in preparing the ship for sea. I have been giving some attention to the engines and boiler, and hope, with the help of the two stokers, to be able to make use of our steam power.

The men have received my hearty thanks for their great exertions during the travelling period. I told them I considered every part of our search to have been fully and efficiently performed. Our labors have determined the exact position of the extreme northern promontory of the continent of America; I have affixed to it the name of Murchison, after the distinguished President of the Royal Geographical Society--the strenuous advocate for this "further search"--and the able champion of Lady Franklin when she needed all the support which private friendship and public spirit could bestow.

{DEARTH OF ANIMAL LIFE.}

_23rd._--The ice in Prince Regent's Inlet is broken up into pack, but the prevalence of easterly winds keeps it in close upon the shore. The ice about us is very much decayed, holes through it in many places. No reindeer seen this week, and only two seals procured; one of them shot by Christian, the other was killed by a bear, which ran off before Samuel could come within shot of him. A fox, a gull, a couple of ducks, and one or two lemmings; complete our game list for the week, yet our two Esquimaux are indefatigable in the pursuit. We eat all the birds and seals we can shoot, as well as mustard and cress as fast as we can grow it, but the quantity is very small. We sometimes refresh ourselves with a salad of sorrel-leaves, or roots of the little plant with lilac flower of snapdragon shape, named _Pedicularis hirsuta_.

The seine has been hauled in the narrow lake at the head of the harbor, but, as it was not well managed, only a dozen small trout were taken, though several were seen. We have tried for rock cod, but without success. The relics of the lost expedition have been aired, exhibited to the crew, labelled, and packed away. The Doctor has been dredging lately. A record detailing our proceedings has been placed in a cairn upon the west point of Depôt Bay.

{AUG., 1859.}

_1st August._--A long continuance of unusually calm, bright, and warm weather has been favorable to our painting and cleaning the ship, scraping masts, and so forth. The result is that she looks unusually smart and gay, and our impatience to exhibit her, and _ourselves_ at home is much increased. With the exception of a few gulls, and a duck, our hunters have shot nothing lately, although constantly out, either darting about in their kayaks or ranging over the hills; in fact there is nothing which they _can_ shoot; the ducks are tolerably numerous, but extremely wild; the valleys are respectably clothed with vegetation, yet only one animal--a hare--has been seen. I was so fortunate as to shoot a snowy owl, the flesh of which was white and tender, but, to my palate, tasteless, although Petersen considers that "owl is the best beef in the country."

{OUT OF WINTER QUARTERS.}

On Thursday night we found the harbor-ice to be quietly drifting out, of course taking us with it. The night was calm, the current in Bellot Strait very strong; we were almost helpless under the circumstances, and therefore felt the danger of our position. To warp the ship along the ice-edge, out of the way of the shore and rocks as it turned round and drifted along the cliffs to the westward, gave us some hours' occupation. At length it stuck fast between Fox Island and the main.

At turn of tide on Friday morning it began to drift eastward, and by this time being much broken up, and a breeze coming to our aid, we managed to extricate ourselves and reach a secure anchorage in Point Kennedy.

On Saturday night some ice that was left came drifting out of the inner harbor, and obliged us to slip our cable; but after a few hours we regained our berth in safety, and have since been undisturbed. There is no immediate prospect of escape, but we expect a prodigious smashing up of the ice whenever a strong wind springs up to set it in motion. To-day the steam was got up, and with the help of our two stokers I worked the engines for a short time. It is very cheering to know that we still have steam power at our command, although, by the deaths of poor Mr. Brand and Robert Scott, we were deprived of our engineer and engine-driver.

The mean temperature for July has been 40·14°, which is above the average for this region; the July temperatures have usually varied from 36° to 42°.

All are now in good health, but Hobson still a little lame. The issue of lemon-juice has been reduced to the ordinary allowance of half an ounce daily (as we have but little that is really good), lest another winter should become inevitable, which, I can devoutly say, may God forbid!

{WAITING TO ESCAPE.}

_Monday night, 8th._--Very anxiously awaiting an opportunity to escape. We have constantly watched the ice from the neighboring hills, including the lofty summit of Mount Walker--named after the Doctor, who was the first to ascend it (1123 feet)--from which Fury Point can be distinguished, but nothing very cheering has been seen. We had a N.E. gale, accompanied by rain and a considerable fall of the barometer, a few days ago; and as it blew freshly from the westward this morning, I went to a hill-top and saw that much ice had been broken up in Brentford Bay, and that there were streaks of water along the land between Possession Point and Hazard Inlet; this water, however, was not accessible to us.

The ice about Pemmican Rock was much in the same position as we found it last year, but Bellot Strait was perfectly clear. All the ice in this harbor, in Depôt Bay, and Hazard Inlet, is gone, by far the greater part having decayed, not drifted away.

Later in the day and from loftier hill-tops, a good deal of water was seen off Cape Garry, and a water-sky beyond. It now blows very strongly from the S.W., the most desirable quarter; and as the anxious desire to escape has become oppressive, it is not to be wondered at that now our hopes have become extravagant. We may even make a start to-morrow! On the other hand, a careful examination of our provision store shows that, should we be obliged to spend another winter here, we must curtail our allowance of meat--fresh and salt--to three-quarters of a pound, and have to use but very indifferent lemon-juice. The spirits, I rejoice to say, will very shortly be entirely expended.

{GAME LIST.}

On the morning of the 3rd instant, when the rain ceased and N.E. gale sprang up, two claps of thunder were distinctly heard; this occurs but very rarely in these latitudes. There is ample occupation for the men but not much for the officers; as for myself, I write a great deal, and work occasionally at our chart of discoveries; the only refreshment I indulge in is an occasional dive into packets of old letters. All yesterday the harbor was full of ice set in by southerly and westerly winds, and so closely packed that one might have walked over it to the shore; to-day it has nearly all drifted out again. The subjoined list will show what game we have been able to obtain by constant and arduous labor from the resources of these regions during nearly two years' sojourn.

GAME LIST.

+--------------------------------------+ | 8 Months in the Pack, 1857-8. | +--------+--------+-----------+--------+ | Bears. | Seals. | Dovekies. | Foxes. | | | | | | | 2 | 73 | 38 | 1 | +--------+--------+-----------+--------+

+----------------------------------------------------------------+ | 11 Months in Port Kennedy, 1858-9. | +--------+-------+--------+--------+------------+-------+--------+ | Bears. | Deer. | Hares. | Foxes. | Ptarmigan. | Wild | Seals. | | | | | | | Fowl. | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | 8 | 9 | 19 | 82 | 98 | 18 | +--------+-------+--------+--------+------------+-------+--------+

At Port Kennedy several ermines and lemmings were also caught.

The ptarmigan all disappeared after 1st April.

Only 2 dovekies were seen, 1 in winter, and 1 in summer plumage.

A few seals were seen as early as the month of February.

Ducks, geese, and gulls were the usual kind of wild fowl killed.

During the 4 months occupied in sailing from Davis Strait to Bellot Strait, many looms and rotchies, and 5 or 6 bears were shot.

_Wednesday, 10th._--The S.W. wind proved a good friend to us; by the morning of the 9th it had moved the ice off shore, and cleared away a passage for us out of Brentford Bay. We started under steam at eleven o'clock yesterday morning, and, passing round Long Island, made sail along the land towards Cape Garry, there being a channel about 2 or 3 miles wide between the pack and the shore.

{CRESWELL BAY.}

The wind now failed us, and I experienced some little difficulty in the management of the engines and boiler; the latter primed so violently as to send the water over our top gallant yard, and the tail valve of the condenser by some means had got out of its seat, and admitted air to the condenser; but eventually we got the engines to work well, and steamed across Creswell Bay during the night. The pack rested against Fury Point, and an east wind springing up, we made fast to a large grounded mass of ice in Adelaide Bay, about 1/4 mile off shore, and in 3 fathoms water, at eleven o'clock this morning. Having managed the engines for twenty-four consecutive hours, I was not sorry to get into bed. We were hardly out of Brentford Bay when fulmar petrels and white whales were seen; the first we have noticed for eleven and a half months. Dovekies are likewise abundant, and a seal has already been shot. Creswell Bay is perfectly clear of ice, but this pale limestone land is the perfection of sterility, even with the rugged hills of Brentford Bay in lively recollection.

Upon the east side of Port Kennedy the bones of whales were found in two places a mile apart from each other; the lowest of them was 180 feet above the sea, the second was more than 300 feet high. The latter I examined, and found a jaw-bone, two ribs, a joint of the vertebræ, and fragments of other bones, all more or less buried in the soil, and much heavier than the bones of a recent animal; they lay within 40 or 60 yards of each other, and upon a little flat patch of rather rich earth, a rocky hill above, and steep slope below;--they are also nearly a mile inland.

{TRACES OF OUR VISIT.}

Of the traces which we have left behind us, the most considerable are the graves of our two shipmates within the western point of our little harbor; they were tastefully sodded round, and planted over with the usual Arctic flowers. There is our record in a conspicuous cairn at the west point of Depôt or Transition Bay: we left also three cases of pemmican near the east end of the Long Lake, and our travelling boat near its west end, at the head of False Strait.

{A WHITE WHALE SHOT.}

_Monday, 15th._--Strong east winds, with much rain, have imprisoned us here for the last four days, and driven the whole pack close in, completely filling up Creswell Bay. We remain fast to the grounded ice, which shields us from pressure, otherwise we should have been driven irretrievably on shore. A couple more seals and a white whale have been shot; the latter measured 13-1/2 feet long, and proved to be a female of ordinary dimensions, and of an uniform cream color; the eyes are extremely small, and orifices of the ears scarcely large enough to admit a crow-quill. We dined off steaks of the flesh, and prefer it to seal, which it very much resembles, but it is not quite so tender; the skin is greatly prized by the Greenlanders as an antiscorbutic; it is a sort of gristly gelatinous substance, nearly half an inch thick, and possessing very little taste; fried and eaten with fish-sauce, it reminded me of cod sound, though not so good.

The blubber fills two twenty-gallon casks; it produces oil of a quality superior to seal oil; not an ounce of the flesh or skin of this huge animal has been thrown away, the men having a wholesome dread of scurvy, and unbounded confidence in "blood-meat," such as this! The Doctor has picked up a few fossils very similar to those formerly brought home from Port Leopold.

{PASS FURY BEACH.}

To our great joy the east wind died away this morning, and immediately a west wind sprang up, which very quickly freshened to a smart gale. At four o'clock this afternoon we were able to make sail, the ice having moved about 3 miles off shore. Passed within a mile of Fury Beach two hours afterwards, and saw the framing of the house, the boats and casks very distinctly.

_17th._--After passing Fury Beach it fell calm, so we steamed up as far as Batty Bay. On Tuesday afternoon we were off Port Leopold, running fast, when thick fog came on, and we got involved in loose ice, and seriously damaged our rudder. The boats and stores at Port Leopold appeared to remain as we left them last year. The flag-staff on the summit of North-east Cape (over Whale Point) is still standing, but not erect.

Fog and ice obstructed our progress during the night; but this morning when I came on deck at eight o'clock, the day was bright, clear, and charming; no ice visible, except about Leopold Island, which was now some miles behind us. Towards evening the wind became contrary.

_Sunday evening, 21st._--At sea--out of sight of land!

On the 19th we were somewhat delayed by loose ice off Cape Hay, but by noon yesterday were close off Cape Burney, and whilst almost becalmed there, a mother bear swam off to us with two interesting cubs about the size of very large dogs. Foolish creatures! a volley of rifles decided their fate in a very few seconds. Not finding any whaling vessels off Pond's Inlet, the land-ice which shelters the whales having all disappeared, we therefore concluded that the whalers had left in consequence, so, without seeking for them further south, at once changed our course for Disco.

To-day only a few icebergs have been seen. There is a good deal of swell, so we tumble about. Roast _veal_ has appeared amongst the delicacies of our table since the battue of yesterday, and Christian has asked for a portion of the old bear to carry home to his mother. Bear's flesh is really considered a delicacy in Greenland.

_25th._--Becalmed off Hare Island, and getting the steam ready. We are only 108 miles from Godhavn, and the anxiety to clutch our letters has become intolerable. No pack-ice has been met with in our passage across Baffin's Bay, but many icebergs. This morning the lofty snow-clad land of Noursoak and Disco was beautifully distinct; and at the same time the wind died away, leaving us, at least, the opportunity to contemplate at our _leisure_ their gloomy grandeur.

{CAPTAIN YOUNG'S JOURNEY.}

_26th._--Steamed for ten hours last night. Fair winds and calms have alternated since then, but this evening we are within 20 miles, and hope soon to get into port. I have been reading over Young's report of his spring journey. It comprises seventy-eight days of sledge-travelling, and certainly under most discouraging circumstances. Leaving the ship on 7th April, he crossed the western strait to Prince of Wales' Land, and thence traced its shore to the south and west. On reaching its southern termination--Cape Swinburne, so named in honor of Rear-Admiral Swinburne, a much-esteemed friend of Sir J. Franklin, and one of the earliest supporters of this final expedition--he describes the land as extremely low and deeply covered with snow, the heavy grounded hummocks which fringed its monotonous coast alone indicating the line of demarcation betwixt land and sea. To the north-east of this terminal cape the sea was covered with level floe formed in the fall of last year, whilst all to the north-westward of the same cape was pack consisting of heavy ice-masses, formed perhaps years ago in far distant and wider seas.

Young attempted to cross the channel which he discovered between Prince of Wales' Island and Victoria Land; but from the rugged nature of the ice, found it quite impracticable with the means and time remaining at his disposal. Young expresses his firm conviction that this channel is so constantly choked up with unusually heavy ice as to be quite unnavigable; it is, in fact, a _continuous ice-stream_ from the N.W. His opinion coincides with my own, and with those of Captains Ommanney and Osborn, when those officers explored the north-western shores of Prince of Wales' Land in 1851.

Fearing that his provisions might run short he sent back one sledge with four men, and continued his march with only one man and the dogs for forty days! They were obliged to build a snow-hut each night to sleep in, as the tent was sent back with the men; but latterly, when the weather became more mild, they preferred sleeping on the sledge, as the constructing of a snow-hut usually occupied them for two hours. Young completed the exploration of this coast beyond the point marked upon the charts as Osborn's farthest, up nearly to lat. 73° N., but no cairn was found. Young, however, recognized the remarkably shaped conical hills spoken of by Osborn, when he at his farthest, in 1851, struck off to the westward.

The coast-line throughout was extremely low; and in the thick disagreeable weather which he almost constantly experienced, it was often a matter of great difficulty to prevent straying off the coast-line inland. He commenced his return on the 11th May, and reached the ship on 7th June, in wretched health and depressed in spirits.

Directly his health was partially re-established, he, in spite of the Doctor's remonstrances, as I have before said, again set out on the 10th with his party of men and the dogs, to complete the exploration of both shores of the continuation of Peel Sound, between the position of the 'Fox' and the points reached by Sir James Ross in 1849, and Lieutenant Browne in 1851. This he accomplished without finding any trace of the lost expedition, and the parties were again on board by 28th June. The ice travelled over in this last journey was almost all formed last autumn.

The extent of coast-line explored by Captain Young amounts to 380 miles, whilst that discovered by Hobson and myself amounts to nearly 420 miles, making a total of 800 geographical miles of new coast-line which we have laid down.

{HOBSON'S JOURNEY.}

Hobson's report is a minute record of all that occurred during his journey of seventy-four days, and includes a list of all the relics brought on board, or seen by him. He suffered very severely in health: when only ten days out from the ship, traces of scurvy appeared; when a month absent he walked lame; towards the latter end of the journey he was compelled to allow himself to be dragged upon the sledge, not being able to walk more than a few yards at a time; and on arriving at the ship on the 14th June, poor Hobson was unable to stand. How strongly this bears upon the last sad march of the lost crews! And yet Hobson's food throughout the whole journey was pemmican of the very best quality, the most nutritious description of food that we know of, and varied occasionally by such game as they were able to shoot. In spite of this fresh-meat diet, scurvy advanced with rapid strides.

After leaving me at Cape Victoria, he says--"No difficulty was experienced in crossing James Ross Strait. The ice appeared to be of but one year's growth; and although it was in many places much crushed up, we easily found smooth leads through the lines of hummocks; many very heavy masses of ice, evidently of foreign formation, have been here arrested in their drift: so large are they that, in the gloomy weather we experienced, they were often taken for islands."

Again, at Cape Felix, he observes,--"The pressure of the ice is severe, but the ice itself is not remarkably heavy in character; the shoalness of the coast keeps the line of pressure at considerable distance from the beach; to the northward of the island the ice, as far as I could see, was very rough, and crushed up into large masses." Here we notice the gradual change in the character of the ice as Hobson left the Boothian shore and advanced towards Victoria Strait. The "very heavy masses of ice, evidently of foreign formation," had drifted in from the N.W. through M'Clure Strait; Victoria Strait was full of it; and Hobson's description of the ice he passed over clearly illustrates how Franklin, leaving clear water behind him, pressed his ships into the pack when he attempted to force through Victoria Strait. How very different the result _might_ and probably _would_ have been had he known of the existence of a ship-channel, sheltered by King William Island from this tremendous "polar pack"!

Hobson left King William Island on the last day of May, having spent thirty-one days on its desolate shores. During that period one bear and five willow-grouse were shot; one wolf and a few foxes were seen. One poor fox was either so desperately hungry, or so charmed with the rare sight of animated beings, that he played about the party until the dogs snapped him up, although in harness and dragging the sledge at the time. A few gulls were seen, but not until after the first week in June.

I have already explained how Hobson found the records and the boat: he exercised his discretionary power with sound judgment, and completed his search so well, that, in coming over the same ground after him, I could not discover any trace that had escaped him.

I quite agree with him that there may be many small articles beneath the snow; but that cairns, graves, or any conspicuous objects could exist upon so low and uniform a shore, without our having seen them, is _almost_ impossible.

{LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.}

_Sunday evening, 29th._--Calm, warm, lovely, weather; and we are thoroughly enjoying it in the quiet security of Lievely harbor, or Godhavn. Although Friday night was dark, we managed to find out the harbor's mouth, and slowly steamed into it. The inhabitants were awoke by Petersen demanding our letters, but great indeed was our disappointment at finding only a very few letters and two or three papers, and these for the officers only! It appears that on the arrival of the whalers in early spring, the ice prevented their usual communication with the settlement, therefore the letters on board of them were unavoidably carried northward. Some few, however, which came out in the 'Truelove,' were landed at the neighboring settlement of Noursoak, and from thence were sent back to Godhavn.

It is rather a nervous thing opening the first letters after a lapse of more than two years. We received them in our beds at three o'clock in the morning; and when we met at breakfast were able, thank God! to congratulate each other upon the receipt of cheering home news. Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft wrote to me from Bournemouth in March last. They have travelled more than we have, I think, having visited almost all the countries bordering the Mediterranean and Black Seas, posted through the Crimea, and steamed up the Danube! I am much gratified to learn that I have been elected a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron during my absence.

{STAY AT GODHAVN.}

Yesterday morning I called upon the inspector, Mr. Olrik, who has been home to Denmark since I saw him last spring. In the autumn he took Mrs. Olrik and his family to Copenhagen, and has but just returned alone. He received me with his usual kindness, and promised me such supplies as we require. It so happens that none of my expected business letters have arrived, so that I am not accredited in the slightest degree, nor is there any hint thrown out as to where I am to take the 'Fox.' Mr. Olrik gave me a large bundle of 'Illustrated London News,' which was exceedingly acceptable, and told us that Austria was at war with France and Sardinia. By the latest news a battle had been fought and won by the latter Powers. Most fortunately a 'Navy List' had come out to Hobson, otherwise I think we should have been utterly brokenhearted. We study its pages daily, and delight in noticing the advancement of our many friends.

{SEPT., 1859.}

_1st Sept., Thursday night._--At sea, on _the passage_, and already enjoying, by anticipation, the pleasures of home! Five busy days were spent in Godhavn, supplying our little wants, in as far as they could be supplied, including 100 gallons of light beer. The natives were very useful, the men bringing off water, stone ballast, and sand, and a troop of Esquimaux girls scrubbing the paintwork and the decks.

Each evening the men went on shore, taking with them a very limited quantity of rum-punch for the ladies, and danced for several hours in a large store; whilst the officers and myself spent the time with Mr. Olrik or the other Danish gentlemen--Messrs. Andersen, Bulbrue, and Tyner. Nothing could exceed their kindness to us, whilst their good humor and their anecdotes, sometimes expressed in quaint English, greatly amused us. We shall always retain very agreeable recollections of Godhavn; twice has it been to us an Arctic home.

{PART FROM OUR ESQUIMAUX FRIENDS.}

Mr. Petersen's nieces, the belles of the place, came on board (Miss Sophia with scented cambric handkerchief and gloves--in other respects she adheres to the Esquimaux costume); they were pleased with the organ, although it is out of repair, and they sang together very sweetly for us. Our Esquimaux shipmates, Christian and Samuel, were discharged, and, by their own request their wages given in charge to Mr. Olrik and Mr. Bulbrue; they seemed to understand the importance of husbanding their wealth. Christian said he thought it would not be all spent under three years. First of all he intended buying a rifle for his brother, and then some wood to build a house for himself.

I was gratified very much when I heard them say that the men had treated them very well--"all the same as brothers;" and they really seemed sorry to leave the ship; they would come on board and look gravely about at everything as if regretting the coming separation. Even our poor dogs seemed to think the ship their natural abode; although landed at the settlement, they soon ran round the harbor to the point nearest the ship, and there, upon the rocks, spent the whole period of our stay.

On Tuesday night we set off some fireworks on shore to amuse the natives, for I intended sailing next day, but the wind prevented my doing so. The last day was spent in the interchange of presents between our Danish friends and ourselves; indeed, the sincere hearty good feeling which existed between every individual in the 'Fox' and the inhabitants of the settlement was as gratifying as apparent. Almost the only fresh supplies obtained here were rock cod and salmon-trout from Disco fiord. During our stay the weather was delightful; indeed it was the first really fine weather they had experienced at Godhavn during the present season, the summer having been cold and wet.

{LEAVE GODHAVN.}

_10th Sept., Saturday night._--To-day we passed to the eastward of Cape Farewell, but about 100 miles to the south of it. The last iceberg was seen to-day; and now we are running along swiftly before a pleasant N.W. breeze. Hitherto we have had every variety of wind and weather, from a calm to a gale, but generally the wind has been favorable. The change of temperature is already perceptible.

{VOYAGE HOME.}

_Saturday night, 17th Sept._--A week of favorable gales has brought us from Cape Farewell to within 400 miles of Land's End, or about 1100 miles of distance. But such rough weather is not pleasant in so small a vessel, however much "like a duck" she may be; and our two years' sojourn in the still waters of the frozen North has made us very susceptible of the change.

CONCLUSION.

We sailed all the way home from Greenland, yet the 'Fox' made the passage in only nineteen days, arriving in the English Channel on the 20th September; on the evening of the 21st I reached London (having landed at Portsmouth), and made known to the Admiralty the result of my voyage.

On the 23rd September the 'Fox' was taken into dock at Blackwall; and, through the kindness and promptitude of the Lords of the Admiralty, I was enabled on the 27th, when the crew were assembled for the last time, to present the Arctic medal to such of my companions as had not already received it for previous Arctic service, and also to inform Lieutenant Hobson that his promotion to the rank of Commander would speedily take place.

I will not intrude upon the reader, who has followed me through the pages of this simple narrative, any description of my feelings on finding the enthusiasm with which we were all received on landing upon our native shores. The blessing of Providence had attended our efforts, and more than a full measure of approval from our friends and countrymen has been our reward. For myself the testimonial given me by the officers and crew of the 'Fox' has touched me perhaps more than all. The purchase of a gold chronometer, for presentation to me, was the first use the men made of their earnings; and as long as I live it will remind me of that perfect harmony, that mutual esteem and goodwill, which made our ship's company a happy little community, and contributed materially to the success of the expedition.

The names I have given to my discoveries are, with the exception of those by which I have endeavored to honor the members of the lost expedition, the names of active supporters of the recent search, and friends of Franklin and his companions, though such names are far from exhausting the number of those who have the highest claims to distinction on both grounds.

It will be observed that I have refrained from repeating names which have already been commemorated by preceding commanders, and which therefore are already in our charts. Besides the individuals already mentioned in the narrative, Sir Thomas D. Acland, one of the most zealous promoters of the search, both in and out of the House of Commons; Monsieur De la Roquette, Vice-President of the Geographical Society of Paris, and author of an interesting biography of Franklin; Rear-Admiral Fitzroy; and Major-General Pasley, R.E., stand high amongst those whom it has been my privilege to honor.

Although much talent has been brought to bear upon the deciphering of the letters found in a pocket-book near Cape Herschel (page 248 _ante_), yet, from their being so very much defaced by time, only a few detached sentences have been made out, and these do not in the slightest degree refer to the proceedings of the lost expedition.

It will be seen that I have noticed (page 260) the discrepancy between the number of souls accounted for by the Point Victory Record, and the generally received opinion that 138 individuals sailed in the 'Erebus' and 'Terror.'

I am now enabled to state, on the authority of the Admiralty, that only one hundred and thirty-four individuals left the United Kingdom, and of these five men subsequently returned: one by H.M.S. 'Rattler,' and four by the transport 'Barretto Junior;' so that only one hundred and twenty-nine--the exact number mentioned in the record--actually entered the ice. The five invalids were--

From H.M.S. 'Terror,' John Brown, Able seaman. " Robert Carr, Armorer. " James Elliot, Sailmaker. " William Aitken, Marine. From H.M.S. 'Erebus,' Thomas Birt, Armorer.

The relics we have brought home have been deposited by the Admiralty in the United Service Institution, and now form a national memento--the most simple and most touching--of those heroic men who perished in the path of duty, but not until they had achieved the grand object of their voyage,--the _Discovery of the North-West Passage_.

_London, 24th Nov., 1859._

APPENDIX.

No. I.

A LETTER TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, K.G., &c., FROM LADY FRANKLIN.

60, Pall Mall, December 2, 1856.

MY LORD,--

I trust I may be permitted, as the widow of Sir John Franklin, to draw the attention of Her Majesty's Government to the unsettled state of a question which a few months ago was under their consideration, and to express a well-grounded hope that a final effort may be made to ascertain the fate and recover the remains of my husband's expedition.

Your Lordship will allow me to remind you that a Memorial[29] with this object in view (of which I enclose a printed copy) was early in June last presented to, and kindly received by you. It had been signed within forty-eight hours by all the leading men of science then in London who had an opportunity of seeing it, and might have received an indefinite augmentation of worthy names had not the urgency of the question forbidden delay. To the above names were appended those of the Arctic officers who had been personally engaged in the search, and who, though absent, were known to be favorable to another effort for its completion. And though that united application obtained no immediate result, it was felt, and by no one more strongly than myself, that it never could be utterly wasted.

I venture also to allude to a letter of my own addressed to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in April last, and a copy of which accompanied, I believe, the Memorial to your Lordship, wherein I earnestly deprecated any premature adjudication of the reward claimed by Dr. Rae, on the ground that the fate of my husband's expedition was not yet ascertained, and that it was due both to the living and the dead to complete a search which had been hitherto pursued under the greatest disadvantage, for want of the clue which was now for the first time in our hands.

The Memorial above alluded to, and my own letter of earlier date, had not yet received any reply, when, in the month of July, the Lords of the Admiralty caused prompt inquiries to be made as to the possibility of equipping a ship at that advanced season, in time for effective operations in the field of search. The result was that it was pronounced to be too late, and the subject was dismissed for that season.

Upon this I addressed a letter to the Board (of which I take the liberty to enclose a copy), respectfully showing that by this unfortunate delay the opportunity had also been taken from me of sending out a vessel at my own cost, a measure which I had previously felt myself obliged to state to their Lordships would be the alternative of any adverse decision on their part. I pleaded therefore, as the only remedy for the loss of an entire summer season, that the route by Behring Strait was by some of the most competent Arctic officers considered preferable to the eastern route, and that the equipment of a vessel for this direction need not take place before the close of the year.

In reply, their Lordships caused me to be informed that "they had come to the decision not to send any expedition to the Arctic regions in the present year."

This communication, however, was in answer merely to my own letter. The Memorialists had as yet received no reply, and accordingly the President of the Royal Society put a question respecting the Memorial in the House of Lords at the close of the session, which drew from one of Her Majesty's Ministers (Lord Stanley), after some preliminary observations, the assurance that Her Majesty's Government would give the subject their serious consideration during the recess. I may be permitted to add, that, in the conversation which followed, Lord Stanley expressed himself as very favorably disposed towards a proposition made to him by Lord Wrottesley, that, in the event of there being no Government expedition, I should be assisted in fitting out my own expedition; an assurance which Lord Wrottesley had the kindness to communicate to me by letter.

But, my Lord, as nothing has occurred within the last few months to weaken the reasons which induced the Admiralty, early in July last, to contemplate another final effort, and as they put it aside at that time on the sole ground that it was too late to equip a vessel for that season, I trust it will be felt that I am not endeavoring to re-open a closed question, but merely to obtain the settlement of one which has not ceased to be, and is even now, under favorable consideration. The time has arrived, however, when I trust I may be pardoned for pressing your Lordship, with whom I believe the question rests, for a decision, since by further delay even my own efforts may be paralyzed.

I have cherished the hope, in common with others, that we are not waiting in vain. Should, however, that decision unfortunately throw upon me the responsibility and the cost of sending out a vessel myself, I beg to assure your Lordship that I shall not shrink, either from that weighty responsibility, or from the sacrifice of my entire available fortune for the purpose, supported as I am in my convictions by such high authorities as those whose opinions are on record in your Lordship's hands, and by the hearty sympathy of many more.

But before I take upon myself so heavy an obligation, it is my bounden duty to entreat Her Majesty's Government not to disregard the arguments which have led so many competent and honorable men to feel that our country's honor is not satisfied, whilst a mystery which has excited the sympathy of the civilized world, remains uncleared. Nor less would I entreat you to consider what must be the unsatisfactory consequences, if any endeavors should be made to quench all further efforts for this object.

It cannot be that this long-vexed question would thereby be set at rest, for it would still be true that in a certain circumscribed area within the Arctic circle, approachable alike from the east, and from the west, and sure to be attained by a combination of both movements, lies the solution of our unhappy countrymen's fate. While such is the case, the question will never die. I believe that again and again would efforts be made to reach that spot, and that the Government could not look on as unconcerned spectators, nor be relieved in public opinion of the responsibility they had prematurely cast off.

But I refrain from pursuing this argument, though, if any illustration were wanting of its truth, I think it might be found in the events that are passing before our eyes.

It is now about two years ago that one of Her Majesty's Arctic ships was abandoned in the ice. In due time this ship floated away, was picked up by an American whaler, carried into an American port, and (all property in her having been relinquished by the Admiralty) was purchased of her rescuers by the American Government, by whom she has been lavishly re-equipped, and is now on her passage to England, a free gift to the Queen. The 'Resolute' is about to be delivered up in Portsmouth harbor, not merely in evidence of the cordial relation existing between the two countries, but as a lively token of the deep interest and sympathy of the Americans in that great cause of humanity in which they have so nobly borne their part. The resolution of Congress expressly states this motive, and indeed there could be no other, as it is well known that for any purpose but the Arctic service those expensive equipments would be perfectly useless and require removal.

My Lord, you will not let this rescued and restored ship, emblematic of so many enlightened and generous sentiments, fail, even partially, in her significant mission. I venture to hope that she will be accepted in the spirit in which she is sent. I humbly trust that the American people, and especially that philanthropic citizen who has spent so largely of his private fortune in the search for the lost ships, and to whom was committed by his Government the entire charge of the equipment of the 'Resolute,' will be rewarded for this signal act of sympathy, by seeing her restored to her original vocation, so that she may bring back from the Arctic seas, if not some living remnant of our long-lost countrymen, yet at least the _proofs_ that they have nobly perished.

I need not add that we have as yet no proofs, whatever may be our melancholy forebodings. That such is the fact, in a legal point of view, is shown by a case now or lately pending in the Scotch Courts, in which the right of succession to a considerable property is not admitted, on account of the absence of all but conjectural testimony. In this aspect of the question I have no personal interest, but it is one that may not be deemed unworthy of your Lordship's attention, combined as it must be with the fact that our most experienced Arctic officers are willing to stake their reputation upon the feasibility of reaching the spot where so many secrets lie buried, if only they are supplied with the adequate means.

It would be a waste of words to attempt to refute again the main objections that have been urged against a renewed search, as involving extraordinary danger and risking life. The safe return of our officers and men cannot be denied, neither will it be disputed that each succeeding year diminishes the risk of casualty; and indeed, I feel it would be especially superfluous and unseasonable to argue against this particular objection, or against the financial one which generally accompanies it, at a moment when new expeditions for the glorious interests of science, and which every true lover of science and of his country must rejoice in, are contemplated for the interior of Africa and other parts which are far less favorable to human life than the icy regions of the north.

But with respect to expenditure, I may perhaps be allowed, as I have alluded to that topic, again to call to your Lordship's attention that the 'Resolute' is ready equipped for Arctic service by the munificence of another nation, and to add that other Arctic ships, equally well fitted for the purpose, are lying useless in Her Majesty's dockyards, along with accumulated Arctic stores brought back by the late expeditions, and therefore long since included in the navy estimates, and which, besides, are available only for Arctic service, and, if sold, would be bought at only nominal prices. In addition to the above sources of supply are those already existing on the Arctic shores, which are now studded with depôts of provisions and fuel, left from the last and former expeditions, and fit as ever for use, because of the conservative properties of the climate.

But even were the expenditure greater than can thus reasonably be expected, I submit to your Lordship that this is a case of no ordinary exigency. These 135 men of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' (or perhaps I should rather say the greater part of them, since we do not yet know that there are no survivors) have laid down their lives, after sufferings doubtless of unexampled severity, in the service of their country, as truly as if they had perished by the rifle, the cannon-ball, or the bayonet. Nay more,--by attaining the northern and already-surveyed coast of America, it is clear that they solved the problem which was the object of their labors, or, in the beautiful words of Sir John Richardson, that "they forged the last link of the North-West passage with their lives."

Surely, then, I may plead for such men, that a careful search be made for any possible survivor, that the bones of the dead be sought for and gathered together, that their buried records be unearthed, or recovered from the hands of the Esquimaux, and above all, that their last written words, so precious to their bereaved families and friends, be saved from destruction. A mission so sacred is worthy of a government which has grudged and spared nothing for its heroic soldiers and sailors in other fields of warfare, and will surely be approved by our gracious Queen, who overlooks none of Her loyal subjects suffering and dying for their country's honor.

This final and exhausting search is all I seek in behalf of the first and only martyrs to Arctic discovery in modern times, and it is all I ever intend to ask.

But if, notwithstanding all I have presumed to urge, Her Majesty's Government decline to complete the work they have carried on up to this critical moment, but leave it to private hands to finish, I must then respectfully request that measure of assistance in behalf of my own expedition which I have been led to expect on the authority of Lord Stanley, as communicated to me by Lord Wrottesley, and on that of the First Lord of the Admiralty, as communicated to Colonel Phipps in a letter in my possession.

It is with no desire to avert from myself the sacrifice of my own funds, which I devote without reserve to the object in view, that I plead for a liberal interpretation of those communications, but I owe it to the conscientious and high-minded Arctic officers who have generously offered me their services, that my expedition should be made as efficient as possible, however restricted it may be in extent. The Admiralty, I feel sure, will not deny me what may be necessary for this purpose, since, if I do all I can with my own means, any deficiencies and shortcomings of a private expedition cannot I think be justly laid to my charge.

In conclusion, I would earnestly entreat of Her Majesty's Government, while this subject is still under deliberation, that they would be pleased to obtain the opinions of those persons who, in consequence of their practical knowledge and vast experience, may be considered best qualified to express them in the present emergency. And as it must be in the ranks of those officers who would naturally be selected for command of any final expedition that these qualifications will most assuredly be found, I trust I may be pardoned for directing your Lordship's attention to the names (which I put down in the order of their seniority) of Captains Collinson, Richards, McClintock, Maguire, and Osborn. All these officers have passed winter after winter in Arctic service, have carried out those skilful sledge operations which have added so much to our knowledge of Arctic Geography, and have ever, in the exercise of combined courage and discretion, avoided disaster, and brought home their crews in health and safety.

I commit the prayer of this letter, for the length of which I beg much to apologize, to your Lordship's patient and kind consideration, feeling assured that, however the burden of it may pall upon the ear of some, who apparently judge of it neither by the heart nor by the head, you will not on that, or on any light ground, hastily dismiss it. Rather may you be impelled to feel that the shortest and surest way to set the importunate question at rest, is to submit it to that final investigation which will satisfy the yearnings of surviving relatives and friends, and, what is justly of higher import to your Lordship, the credit and honor of the country.

I have the honor to be, etc., JANE FRANKLIN.

The Right Hon. Viscount Palmerston, K.G.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] See Appendix II.

No. II.

MEMORIAL TO THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, M.P., G.C.B.

London, June 5th, 1856.

Impressed with the belief that Her Majesty's missing ships, the 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' or their remains, are still frozen up at no great distance from the spot whence certain relics of Sir John Franklin and his crews were obtained by Dr. Rae,--we whose names are undersigned, whether men of science and others who have taken a deep interest in Arctic discovery, or explorers who have been employed in the search for our lost countrymen, beg earnestly to impress upon your Lordship the desirableness of sending out an Expedition to satisfy the honor of our country, and clear up a mystery which has excited the sympathy of the civilized world.

This request is supported by many persons well versed in Arctic surveys, who, seeing that the proposed Expedition is to be directed _to one limited area only_, are of opinion that the object is attainable, and with little risk.

We can scarcely believe that the British Government, which to its great credit has made so many efforts in various directions to discover even the route pursued by Franklin, should cease to prosecute research, now that the locality has been clearly indicated where the vessels or their remains must lie,--including, as we hope, records which will throw fresh light on Arctic geography, and dispel the obscurity in which the voyage and fate of our countrymen are still involved.

Although most persons have arrived at the conclusion that there can now be no survivors of Franklin's Expedition, yet there are eminent men in our own country and in America who hold a contrary opinion. Dr. Kane, of the United States, for example, who has distinguished himself by pushing farther to the north in search of Franklin than any other individual, and to whom the Royal Geographical Society has recently awarded its Founders' Gold Medal, thus speaks (in a letter to the benevolent Mr. Grinnell):--"I am really in doubt as to the preservation of human life. I well know how glad I would have been, had my duty to others permitted me, to have taken refuge among the Esquimaux of Smith Strait and Etah Bay. Strange as it may seem to you, we regarded the coarse life of these people with eyes of envy, and did not doubt but that we could have lived in comfort upon their resources. It required all my powers, moral and physical, to prevent my men from deserting to the Walrus Settlements, and it was my final intention to have taken to Esquimaux life had Providence not carried us through in our hazardous escape."

But passing from speculation, and confining ourselves alone to the question of finding the missing ships or their records, we would observe that no land Expedition down the Back River, like that which, with great difficulty, recently reached Montreal Island, can satisfactorily accomplish the end we have in view. The frail birch-bark canoes in which Mr. Anderson conducted his search with so much ability, the dangers of the river, the sterile nature of the tract near its embouchure, and the necessary failure of provisions, prevented the commencement, even, of such a search as can alone be satisfactorily and thoroughly accomplished by the crew of a man-of-war,--to say nothing of the moral influence of a strong armed party remaining in the vicinity of the spot until the confidence of the natives be obtained.

Many Arctic explorers, independent of those whose names are appended, and who are absent on service, have expressed their belief that there are several routes by which a _screw_-vessel could so closely approach the area in question as to clear up all doubt.

In respect to one of these courses, or that by Behring Strait, along the coast of North America, we know that a single sailing vessel passed to Cambridge Bay, within 150 miles of the mouth of the Back River, and returned home unscathed,--its commander having expressed his conviction that the passage in question is so constantly open that ships can navigate it without difficulty in one season. Other routes, whether by Regent Inlet, Peel Sound, or across from Repulse Bay, are preferred by officers whose experience in Arctic matters entitles them to every consideration; whilst in reference to two of these routes it is right to state that vast quantities of provisions have been left in their vicinity.

Without venturing to suggest which of these plans should be adopted, we earnestly beg your Lordship to sanction without delay such an expedition as, in the judgment of a Committee of Arctic Voyagers and Geographers, may be considered best adapted to secure the object.

We would ask your Lordship to reflect upon the great difference between a clearly-defined voyage to a narrow and circumscribed area, within which the missing vessels or their remains must lie, and those formerly necessarily tentative explorations in various directions, the frequent allusions to the difficulty of which, in regions far to the north of the voyage now contemplated, have led persons unacquainted with geography to suppose that such a modified and limited attempt as that which we propose involves farther risk and may call for future researches. The very nature of the former expeditions exposed them, it is true, to risk, since regions had to be traversed which were totally unknown; while the search we ask for is to be directed to a circumscribed area, the confines of which have already been reached without difficulty by one of Her Majesty's vessels.

Now, inasmuch as France, after repeated fruitless efforts to ascertain the fate of La Perouse, no sooner heard of the discovery of some relics of that eminent navigator, than she sent out a Searching Expedition to collect every fragment pertaining to his vessels, so we trust that those Arctic researches which have reflected much honor upon our country may not be abandoned at the very moment when an explanation of the wanderings and fate of our lost navigators seems to be within our grasp.

In conclusion, we further earnestly pray that it may not be left to the efforts of individuals of another and kindred nation, already so distinguished in this cause, nor yet to the noble-minded widow of our lamented friend, to make an endeavor which can be so much more effectively carried out by the British Government.

We have the honor to be, &c.,

F. BEAUFORT, R. I. MURCHISON, F. W. BEECHEY, WROTTESLEY, L. HORNER, W. H. FITTON, LYON PLAYFAIR, T. THORP, E. SABINE, EGERTON ELLESMERE, W. WHEWELL, R. COLLINSON, W. H. SYKES, C. DAUBENY, J. FERGUS, P. E. DE STRZELECKI, W. H. SMYTH, A. MAJENDIE, R. FITZROY, E. GARDINER FISHBOURNE, R. BROWN, G. MACARTNEY, C. WHEATSTONE, W. J. HOOKER, J. D. HOOKER, J. ARROWSMITH, P. LA TROBE, W. A. B. HAMILTON, R. STEPHENSON, J. E. PORTLOCK, C. PIAZZI SMYTH, C. W. PASLEY, G. RENNIE, J. P. GASSIOT, G. B. AIRY, J. F. BURGOYNE.

The following officers of the Royal Navy, who have been employed in the search after Franklin, and who are now absent from London, have previously expressed themselves to be favorable to the final expedition above recommended:--

Captains Sir JAMES C. ROSS, and Sir EDWARD BELCHER;

Commodore KELLETT;

Captains AUSTIN, BIRD, OMMANNEY, Sir ROBERT M'CLURE, SHERARD OSBORN, INGLEFIELD, MAGUIRE, M'CLINTOCK, and RICHARDS;

Commanders ALDRICH, MECHAM, TROLLOPE, and CRESSWELL;

Lieutenants HAMILTON and PIM.

No. III.

LIST OF RELICS OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION,

Brought to England in the 'Fox,' by Captain M'Clintock.

Relics brought from the boat found in lat. 69° 08' 43" N., long. 99° 24' 42" W., upon the West Coast of King William Island, May 30, 1859:--

Two double-barrelled guns, one barrel in each is loaded. Found standing up against the side in the after part of the boat.

A small Prayer Book; cover of a small book of 'Family Prayers;' 'Christian Melodies,' an inscription within the cover to "G. G." (Graham Gore?); 'Vicar of Wakefield;' a small Bible, interlined in many places, and with numerous references written in the margin; a New Testament in the French language.

Two table knives with white handles--one is marked "W. R.;" a gimlet; an awl; two iron stanchions, 9 inches long, for supporting a weather cloth, which was round the boat.

26 pieces of silver plate--11 spoons, 11 forks, and 4 teaspoons; 3 pieces of thin elmboard (tingles) for repairing the boat, and measuring 11 inches by 6 inches, and 3-10ths inch thick.

Piece of canvas:--Bristles for shoemaker's use, bullets, short clay pipe, roll of waxed twine, a wooden button, small piece of a port-fire, two charges of shot tied up in the finger of a kid glove, fragment of a seaman's blue serge frock. Covers of a small Testament and Prayer Book, part of a grass cigar-case, fragment of a silk handkerchief, thread-case, piece of scented soap, three shot charges in kid glove fingers, a belted bullet, a piece of silk pocket handkerchief. Two pairs of goggles, made of stout leather and wire gauze, instead of glass; a sailmaker's palm, two small brass pocket compasses, a snooding line rolled up on a piece of leather, a needle and thread case, a bayonet scabbard altered into a sheath for a knife, tin water bottle for the pocket, two shot pouches (full of shot).

Three spring hooks of sword belts, a gold lace band, a piece of thin gold twist or cord, a pair of leather goggles with crape instead of glass; a small green crape veil.

Two small packets of blank cartridge in green paper, part of a cherry-stick pipe stem, piece of a port-fire, a few copper nails, a leather bootlace, a seaman's clasp-knife, two small glass stoppered bottles (full), three glasses of spectacles, part of a broken pair of silver spectacles, German silver pencil-case, a pair of silver (?) forceps, such as a naturalist might use for holding or seizing small insects, etc.; a small pair of scissors rolled up in blank paper, and to which adheres a printed government paper, such as an officer's warrant or appointment; a spring hook of a sword belt, a brass charger for holding two charges of shot.

A small bead purse, piece of red sealing-wax, stopper of a pocket flask, German silver top and ring, brass matchbox, one of the glasses of a telescope, a small tin cylinder, probably made to hold lucifer matches; a linen bag of percussion caps of three sizes, a very large and old-fashioned kind, stamped "Smith's patent;" a cap with a flange similar to the present musket caps used by Government, but smaller; and ordinary sporting caps of the smallest size.

Five watches.

A pair of blue glass spectacles, or goggles, with steel frame, and wire gauze encircling the glasses, in a tin case.

A pemmican tin, painted lead color, and marked "E." (Erebus) in black. From its size it must have contained 20 lb. or 22 lb.

Two yellow glass beads, a glass seal with symbol of Freemasonry.

A 4-inch block, strapped, with copper hook and thimble, probably for the boat's sheet.

Relics seen in lat. 69° 09' N., long. 99° 24' W., not brought away, 30th of May, 1859:--

A large boat, measuring 28 ft. in extreme length, 7 ft. 3 in. in breadth, 2 ft. 4 in. in depth. The markings on her stem were--"XXI. W. Con. N61., APr. 184." It appears that the fore part of the stem has been cut away, probably to reduce weight, and part of the letters and figures removed. An oak sledge under the boat, 23 ft. 4 in. long, and 2 ft. wide; 6 paddles, about 60 fathoms of deep-sea lead line, ammunition, 4 cakes of navy chocolate, shoemaker's box with implements complete, small quantities of tobacco, a small pair of very stout shooting boots, a pair of very heavy iron-shod knee boots, carpet boots, sea boots and shoes--in all seven or eight pairs: two rolls of sheet lead, elm tingles for repairing the boat, nails of various sizes for boat, and sledge irons, three small axes, a broken saw, leather cover of a sextant case, a chain-cable punch, silk handkerchiefs (black, white, and colored), towels, sponge, tooth-brush, hair comb, a mackintosh, gun cover (marked in paint "A. 12"), twine, files, knives; a small worsted-work slipper, lined with calf-skin, bound with red riband; a great quantity of clothing, and a wolf-skin robe; part of a boat's sail of No. 8 canvas, whale-line rope with yellow mark, and white line with red mark; 24 iron stanchions, 9-1/2 inches high, for supporting a weather cloth round the boat; a stanchion for supporting a ridge pole at a height of 3 ft. 9 in. above the gunwale.

Relics found about Ross Cairn, on Point Victory, May and June, 1859, brought away:--

A 6-inch dip circle by Robinson, marked I 22. A case of medicines, consisting of 25 small bottles, canister of pills, ointment, plaster, oiled silk, etc. A 2-foot rule, two joints of the cleaning rod of a gun, and two small copper spindles, probably for dog-vanes of boats. The circular brass plate broken out of a wooden gun-case, and engraved "C. H. Osmer, R.N." The field glass and German silver top of a 2-foot telescope, a coffee canister, a piece of a brass curtain rod. The record tin and the record, dated 25th of April, 1848. A 6-inch double frame sextant, on which the owner's name is engraved, "Frederick Hornby, R.N."

Found in a small cairn on the south side of Back Bay:--

A tin record case and record.

Seen about Ross Cairn, Point Victory, not brought away:--

Four sets of boat's cooking apparatus complete, iron hoops, 4 feet of a copper lightning conductor, hollow brass curtain-rod three quarters of an inch in diameter, 3 pickaxes, 1 shovel, old canvas, a pile of warm clothing and blankets 4 feet high, 2 tin canteens stamped "89 Co., Wm. Hedges," "88 Co., Wm. Heather," and a third one not marked. A small pannikin, made on board out of a 2 lb. preserved-meat tin, and marked "W. Mark;" a small deal box for gun wadding, the heavy iron work of a large boat, part of a canvas tent, part of an oar sawed longitudinally and a blanket nailed to its flat side, three boat-hook staves, strips of copper, a 9-inch single block strapped, a piece of rope and spun yarn. Among the clothing was found a stocking marked "W," green, and a fragment of one marked "W. S."

Relics obtained at the Northern Cairn, near Cape Felix, May, 1859:--

Fragments of a boat's ensign, metal lid of a powder-case, two eye pieces of sextant tubes, brass button; worsted glove, colors red, white and blue; bung-stave of a marine's water keg or bottle, brass ornaments to a marine's shako; brass screw for screwing down lid, also a copper hinge of the lid of powder-case; a few patent wire cartridges containing large shot; part of a pair of steel spectacles, glass being replaced by wood, having a narrow slit in it; two small rib bones, probably out of salt pork; six or eight packets of needles; small flannel cartridge containing an ounce of damaged powder; a small, roughly made copper apparatus for cooking; some brimstone matches. Piece of white paper folded up found in the North Cairn, two pike-heads, narrow strip of white paper, found under one of the tent places; their tent places were within a few yards of the cairn.

Beside a small cairn, about three miles north of Point Victory, was a pickaxe, with broken handle; brought away an empty tea or coffee canister.

Articles noticed about the North Cairn, not brought away:--

Fragments of two broken bottles, several pieces of broken basins or cups, blue and white delftware, hoops of marine's water keg, small iron hoops, fragments of white line, spun yarn, canvas, and twine; three small canvas tents, under which lay a bear-skin and fragments of blankets; two blanket frocks, several old mitts, stockings, gloves, pilot cloth and box cloth jackets and trousers, large shot, piece of tobacco and broken pipe, metal part of powder-case, top of tin canister, marked "cheese," preserved-potato tin, feathers of ptarmigan, and salt-meat bones.

Seen near Cape Maria Louisa:--

Part of a drift tree, white spruce fir, 18 feet long, 10 inches in diameter; it appeared to have but recently (_i.e._, since thrown on the coast) been sawed longitudinally down the centre, and one-half of it removed.

Relics obtained from the Boothian Esquimaux, near the Magnetic Pole, in March and April, 1859:--

Seven knives made by the natives out of materials obtained from the last expedition, one knife without a handle, one spear-head and staff (the latter has broken off), two files; a large spoon or scoop, the handle of pine or bone, the bowl of musk-ox horn; six silver spoons and forks, the property of Sir John Franklin, Lieutenants H. D. Vesconte and Fairholme, A. M'Donald, Assistant-Surgeon, and Lieutenant E. Couch (supposed from the initial letter T and crest a lion's head); a small portion of a gold watch-chain, a broken piece of ornamental work apparently silver gilt, a few small naval and other metal buttons, a silver medal obtained by Mr. M'Donald as a prize for superior attainments at a medical examination in Edinburgh April, 1838: some bows and arrows, in which wood, iron, or copper has been used in the construction--of no other interest.

_Remarks upon these Articles._

The spear-staff measures 6 feet 3 inches in length, and appears to have been part of a light boat's gunwale: it measured (before being partially rounded to adapt it to its present use) about 1-1/2 by 1-3/8 inches, is made of English oak, and upon the side has been painted white over green. The spear-head is of steel, riveted to two pieces of hoop, with bone between, and lashed on to the staff. The rivets are of copper nails. The native who sold it said he himself got it from the boat in the Fish River. Another spear of the same kind was seen. The knives are made either of iron or steel, riveted to two strips of hoop, between which the handle of wood is inserted, and rivets passed through, securing them together.

The rivets are almost all made out of copper nails, such as would be found in a copper-fastened boat, but those which have been examined do not bear the Government mark. It is probable that most of the boats of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' were built by contract, and therefore would not have the broad arrow stamped upon their iron and copper work. One small knife appears to have been a surgical instrument. A large knife obtained in April bears some marking, such as a sword or a cutlass might have. The man who sold it said he bought it from another, who picked it up on the land where the ship was driven ashore by the ice, and where the white people had thrown it away; it was then about as long as his arm. This was the first information he received of one of the ships having drifted on shore. One knife and one file are stamped with the broad arrow. The handles are variously composed of oak, ash, pine, mahogany, elm, and bone. The spoons and forks were readily sold for a few needles each, also the buttons, which they wore as ornaments on their dresses. Bows and arrows were readily exchanged for knives. Previously to the stranding on the neighboring shore of the last expedition these people must have been almost destitute of wood or iron. Some of them had even got only bone knives and spear-points. Some of their sledges were seen, consisting of two rolls of seal-skin, flattened and frozen, to serve as runners, and connected together by cross bars of bones. Many more knives, bows and buttons, similar to those brought away, might have been obtained, but no personal or important relics.

Seen in a Snow-Hut in lat. 70-1/2° deg. N., 20th of April, 1859, not brought away:--

Two wooden shovels, one of them made of mahogany board, some spear-handles and a bow of English wood, a deal case which might have served for a telescope or barometer. Its external dimensions were:--length, 3 ft. 1 in.; depth, 3-1/2 in.; width, 9 in.; two brass hinges remained attached to it.

Relics obtained from the Esquimaux near Cape Norton, upon the East Coast of King William Island, in May, 1859:--

Two tablespoons; upon one is scratched "W. W.," on the other "W. G.;" these bear the Franklin crest; two table forks, one bearing the Franklin crest; the other is also crested, probably Captain Crozier's; silversmith's name is "I. West;" two teaspoons, one engraved "A. M. D." (A. M'Donald), the other bears the Fairholme crest and motto; handle of a dessert knife, into which had been inserted a razor (since broken off) by Milliken, Strand; buttons, wood and iron, were here in abundance, but as enough of these had already been obtained no more were purchased.

Taken out of some deserted snow-huts near here, some scraps of different kinds of wood, such as could not be obtained from a boat--teak or African oak.

Found lying about the skeleton, 9 miles eastward of Cape Herschel, May, 1859:--The tie of black silk neckerchief; fragments of a double-breasted blue cloth waistcoat, with covered silk buttons, and edged with braid; a scrap of a colored cotton shirt, silk covered buttons of blue cloth great-coat, a small clothes-brush, a horn pocket-comb, a leathern pocket-book, which fell to pieces when thawed and dried; it contained 9 or 10 letters, a few leaves apparently blank; a sixpence, date 1831; and a half-sovereign, dated 1844.

Articles seen among the natives at Cape Norton, not purchased,--Bows made of wood, knives, uniform and plain buttons, a sledge made of two long pieces of hard wood.

From beside an Esquimaux stone-mark, on the east side of Montreal Island:--Part of a preserved-meat tin, painted red; part of the rim of some strong copper case or vessel; pieces of iron hoop, two pieces of flat iron, an iron hook bolt, a piece of sheet copper.

Articles seen about a snow-hut near Point Booth, not purchased:--Eight or 10 fir poles, varying from 5 feet to 10 feet in length, the stoutest being 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Two wooden snow shovels about 3-1/2 feet long, and made of pieces of plank painted white or pale yellow; it occurred to me that the pieces of plank might have been the bottom boards of a boat. There was abundance of wood fashioned into smaller articles.

Contents of Boat's Medicine Chest:--

One bottle labelled as zinzib. R. pulv., full; ditto, spirit. rect., empty; ditto, mur. hydrarg. seven-eighths full; ditto, ol. caryphyll., one-fifth full; ditto, ipec. P. co., full; ditto, ol. menth. pip., empty; ditto, liq. ammon. fort., three-quarters full; ditto, ol. olivac., full; ditto, tinct. opii. camph., three-quarters full; ditto, vin. sem. colch., full; ditto, quarter full; ditto, calomel, full (broken); ditto, hydrarg. hit. oxyd., full; ditto, pulv. gregor, full (broken); ditto, magnes. carb., full; ditto, camphor, full; two bottles tinc. tolut., each quarter full; one bottle ipec. R. pulv., full; ditto, jalap R. pulv., full; ditto, scammon. pulv., full; ditto, quinac bisulph., empty; ditto (not labelled), tinct. opii., three-quarters full; one box (apparently) purgative pills, full; ditto, ointment, shrunk; ditto, emp. adhesiv., full; one probang, one pen wrapped up in lint, one lead pencil, one pewter syringe, two small tubes (test) wrapped up in lint, one farthing, bandages, oil silk, lint, thread.

No. IV.

GEOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO,

DRAWN UP PRINCIPALLY FROM THE SPECIMENS COLLECTED BY

CAPTAIN F. L. M'CLINTOCK, R.N.,

From 1849 to 1859.

BY THE REV. SAMUEL HAUGHTON, F.R.S.,

Fellow of Trinity College, Professor of Geology in the University of Dublin, and President of the Geological Society of Dublin.

The map which accompanies this geological description is arranged from the specimens brought home by Captain F. L. M'Clintock, R.N., from the four Arctic Expeditions in which he served from 1848 to 1859. These specimens are all deposited in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, and form a more extensive and better collection of Arctic rocks and fossils than is to be found in any other museum in Europe.

It will be most convenient to describe the geology of the Arctic Islands by the formations which are to be found there, which are the following:--

1. The Granitic and Granitoid Rocks. 2. The Upper Silurian Rocks. 3. The Carboniferous Rocks. 4. The Lias Rocks. 5. The Superficial Deposits.

I shall describe these successive formations briefly, and add a few remarks of a theoretical character, to indicate the important inferences which may be drawn from the facts respecting them made known to us by M'Clintock's discoveries.

I.--_The Granitic and Granitoid Rocks._

These rocks form a considerable part of North Greenland, on the east side of Baffin's Bay, and constitute the rock of the country at the east side of the island of North Devon, which forms a portion of the coast-line of the west of Baffin's Bay, and the north side of the entrance into Lancaster Sound.

1. _Whale Fish Islands_, lat. 69° N., are composed of a very fine-grained, flaggy, black mica schist, composed of black mica in very small plates, occasionally putting on a hornblendic lustre, and minute grains of quartz interstratified with the mica. The softer varieties are cut by the natives into grissets and cooking utensils of various shapes, some of which resemble the cambstones found in Ireland, which are made from a kind of potstone, abundant in parts of the County Donegal.

2. _Upernivik_, lat. 72° N., Greenland.--This district is famous for the occurrence of large quantities of plumbago, which is found in a metamorphic rock of the following character. Fine-grained, amorphous, granitoid rock, composed of minute particles of grey quartz; a honey-colored felspar of waxy lustre, of unknown composition; minute particles of red semitransparent garnet, of conchoidal fracture; and small particles, with occasional large nests, of plumbago. The plumbago occurs both amorphous, and in long acicular crystals. Sometimes the rock becomes of coarser texture and more crystalline, and the yellow color of the felspar gives place to a greenish tinge; and it sometimes also becomes a felspar of perfect cleavage, semitransparent, and white. The dodecahedral crystals of garnet reach the diameter of one inch.

The general character of the rocks near Upernivik is different from that of the rock in which the plumbago is found; they consist of a fine-grained black mica schist, with very little felspar or quartz, and intersected by thin veins of elvan composed of quartz and white felspar. The cooking utensils of the natives are made from this fine schist, in preference to any other description of rock.

3. _Woman's Islands._--These islands, off the west coast of Greenland, are composed of a garnetiferous mica slate, formed of black mica in layers, with alternating plates, composed of white felspar and quartz, and filled with fine garnets, rose-colored, vitreous in fracture, and transparent.

4. _Cape York_, lat. 76° N., Greenland.--This cape is composed of a fine-grained granite, consisting of quartz, white felspar, with minute specks of a black mineral, of pitchy lustre, composition not yet determined.

5. _Wolstenholme and Whale Sounds_, lat. 77° N., Greenland.--At Wolstenholme Sound the granitoid rocks of Greenland become converted into mica slate and actinolite slate of a remarkable character. The mica slate is composed of large plates of an intimate mixture of black and white mica, the chemical examination of which will doubtless prove of interest. These plates of mica are separated by bands of pure white felspar. The actinolite slate is dark green, and formed by an almost insensible gradation from the mica slate. In the low ground between Wolstenholme and Whale Sounds, the granitic rocks cease, and are covered by deposits of fine red gritty sandstone, of a banded structure, and a remarkable coarse white conglomerate. The boundary between these formations is also marked by the development of masses of dolerite and clayey basalt.

6. _Carey's Islands_, 76° 40' N., Greenland, lie to the westward of Wolstenholme Sound, and are composed of a remarkable gneissose mica schist, formed of successive thin layers of quartz granules, containing scarcely any felspar, and layers of jet black mica, with occasional facets of white mica. This mica schist passes into a white gneiss, composed of quartz, white felspar, and black mica, penetrated by veins, coarsely crystallised, of the same minerals. Yellow and white sandstones are also found in small quantity on the islands, reposing upon the granitoid rocks.

7. _Capes Osborn and Warrender_, lat. 74° 30' N., North Devon.--The granitoid rocks between these two capes are composed of graphic granite, consisting of quartz (grey) and white felspar; this graphic granite passes into a laminated gneiss, consisting of layers of black mica and white translucent felspar, sparingly mixed with quartz: with the gneiss are interstratified beds of garnetiferous mica slate, consisting of quartz, pale greenish white felspar, black and white mica in minute spangles, and crystals of garnet, rose-colored, disseminated regularly through the mass. Quartziferous bands of epidotic hornstone occur with the foregoing beds; and the whole series is overlaid by red sandstones, of banded structure, which bear a striking resemblance to those that overlie the granitoid beds of Wolstenholme Sound.

8. _North Somerset._--The granitoid rocks are found again on the west side of the island of North Somerset, where they form the eastern boundary of Peel Sound. Boulders of granite are found at a considerable distance (100 miles) to the north-eastward of the rock _in situ_, as at Port Leopold, Cape Rennell, etc. The general character of the granitic rocks in the north and west of North Somerset are thus described by Captain M'Clintock:--

"Near Cape Rennell we passed a very remarkable rounded boulder of gneiss or granite; it was 6 yards in circumference, and stood near the beach, and some 15 or 20 yards above it; one or two masses of rounded gneiss, although very much smaller, had arrested our attention at Port Leopold, as then we knew of no such formation nearer than Cape Warrender, 130 miles to the north-east; subsequently we found it to commence _in situ_ at Cape Granite, nearly 100 miles to the south-west of Port Leopold.

"The granite of Cape Warrender differs considerably from that of North Somerset; the former being a graphic granite, composed of grey quartz and white felspar, the quartz predominating; while the latter, or North Somerset granite, is composed of grey quartz, red felspar, and green chloritic mica, the latter in large flakes; both the granite and gneiss of North Somerset are remarkable for their soapy feel."[30]

To the east of Cape Bunny, where the Silurian limestone ceases, and south of which the granite commences, is a remarkable valley called Transition Valley, from the junction of sandstone and limestone that takes place there. The sandstone is red, and of the same general character as that which rests upon the granitoid rocks at Cape Warrender and at Wolstenholme Sound. Owing to the mode of travelling, by sledge on the ice, round the coast, no information was obtained of the geology of the interior of the country, but it appears highly probable that the granite of North Somerset, as well as that of the other localities mentioned, is overlaid by a group of sandstones and conglomerates, on which the Upper Silurian limestones repose directly. A low, sandy beach marks the termination of the valley northwards, and on this beach were found numerous pebbles, washed from the hills of the interior, composed of quartzose sandstone, carnelian, and Silurian limestone. The accompanying sketch was made by Captain M'Clintock, on the spot, in 1849, and afterwards finished by Lieutenant Browne. It represents the island called Cape Bunny, which forms the eastern headland of the entrance of the now famous Peel Sound, down which the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' sailed, three years before it was visited by Sir James C. Ross and Lieutenant M'Clintock, in their first sledge journey on the ice. Cape Granite is the northern boundary of the granite, which retains the same character as far as Howe Harbor. It is composed of quartz, red felspar, and dark green chlorite; and is accompanied with gneiss of the same composition. I have in my possession a specimen of this granite, found as a pebble at Graham Moore Bay, Bathurst Island, S.W., a locality 135 knots distant from Cape Granite, to the N.W.

9. _Bellot Strait_, lat. 72° N., separate North Somerset from Boothia Felix. The 'Fox' Expedition wintered here in 1858, and had abundant means of ascertaining the geological structure of the neighborhood. The junction of the granitoid and Silurian rocks occurs in these straits, the low ground to the east being horizontal beds of Silurian limestone, while on the west the granite hills of West Somerset rise to a height of 1600 feet above the narrow straits. The granite here is of three varieties.

[alpha]. Blackish grey, fine grained, gneissose granite, composed of quartz, white felspar, and large quantities of fine grains and flakes of hornblende, passing into black mica. The gneissose beds of this granite dip 13° S.E.

[beta]. A red granite, graphic texture, composed of quartz and red felspar, coarse grained.

[gamma]. Syenite, composed of honey-yellow felspar and hornblende, in very large crystals, the felspar passing into red and pink, and the whole rock mass penetrated by veins of the same material, but fine grained. This variety of igneous rock was met with principally at Pemmican Rock, western inlet of Bellot Strait. Large quantities of hornblende are also met with at Levesque Harbor, Bellot Strait, composed of facetted crystals agglutinated together into large masses, forming a crystalline hornblendic gneiss.

10. _Pond's Bay_, _Baffin's Bay_, lat. 72° 40' N.--In this locality a quartziferous black mica schist underlies the Silurian limestone, and is interstratified with gneiss and garnetiferous quartz rock, all in beds, inclined 38° W.S.W. (true).

11. _Montreal Island_, mouth of the Fish River, lat. 67° 45' N.--The granitoid rocks, which everywhere, in the Arctic Archipelago, underlie the Silurian limestone, appear at Montreal Island as a gneiss, composed of bands of felspar (pink) and quartz (1/4 inch thick), separated by thin plates composed altogether of black mica; the whole rock exhibiting the phenomena of foliation in a marked degree.

The east side of King William's Island, though composed of Silurian limestone like the rest of the island, is strewed with boulders of black and red micaceous gneiss, like that of Montreal Island, and black metamorphic clay slate, in which the crystals of mica (qu. Ottrelite) are just commencing to be developed. It is probable that the granitoid rocks appear at the surface somewhat to the eastward of this locality.

12. _Prince of Wales' Island_, west of Peel Sound.--The granitoid rocks extend across Peel Sound into Prince of Wales' Island, in the form of a dark syenite composed of quartz, greenish white felspar passing into yellow, and hornblende. This rock is massive and eruptive at Cape M'Clure, lat. 72° 52' N., and occasionally gneissose, as at lat. 72° 13' N. Between these two points, at lat. 72° 37' N., a limestone bluff occurs containing the characteristic Silurian fossils, and is succeeded at 72° 40' by a ferruginous limestone, bright red, and a few beds of fine red sandstone, like those observed by M'Clintock at Transition Valley, North Somerset. The entire western portion of Prince of Wales' Land is composed of Silurian limestone, which in the extreme west, at Cape Acworth, becomes chalky in character and non-fossiliferous, resembling the peculiar Silurian limestone found on the west side of Boothia Felix.

II.--_The Silurian Rocks._

The Silurian rocks of the Arctic Archipelago rest everywhere directly on the granitoid rocks, with a remarkable red sandstone, passing into coarse grit, for their base. This sandstone is succeeded by ferruginous limestone, containing rounded particles of quartz, which rapidly pass into a fine greyish green earthy limestone, abounding in fossils, and occasionally into a chalky limestone, of a cream color, for the most part devoid of fossils. The average dip of the Silurian limestone varies from 0° to 5° N.N.W., and it forms occasionally high cliffs, and occasionally low flat plains, terraced by the action of the ice as the ground rose from beneath the sea. The general appearance of the rocks is similar to the Dudley limestone, and would strike even an observer who was not a geologist. This resemblance to the Upper Silurian beds extends to the structure of the rocks on the large scale. Alternations of hard limestone and soft shale, so characteristic of the Upper Silurian beds of England and America, arranged in horizontal layers, give to the cliffs around Port Leopold the peculiar appearance which has been described by different Polar navigators as "buttress-like," "castellated;" this appearance is produced by the unequal weathering of the cliff, which causes the hard limestone to stand out in bands. Excellent sketches of this remarkable appearance, drawn by Lieutenant Beechey, are figured at page 35 of Parry's First Voyage, 'Hecla' and 'Griper,' 1819-20. The Western side of King William's Island (now, alas! invested with so sad an interest) is a good example of the low terraced form which the limestone rocks assume at times.

The following lists contain the names of the principal fossils brought home by Captain M'Clintock:--

No. I. GARNIER BAY (Lat. 74° N.; Long. 92° W.)

1. _Cyathophyllum helianthoides_, several specimens. 2. _Heliolites porosa_. Garnier Bay. Another specimen from near Cape Bunny. 3. Specimens of carnelian, gneiss, chalcedony, etc., etc., from the shingle near Cape Bunny. 4. _Cromus Arcticus_, several specimens. 5. _Atrypa phoca_ (Salter). 6. _Atrypa reticularis._ 7. Brachiopoda on slab (various). 8. Cyathophyllum. 9. _Columnaria Sutherlandi_ (Salter). Several specimens.

No. II. PORT LEOPOLD (Lat. 73° 50' N.; Long. 90° 15' W.).

1. Limestone containing numerous fossils of the Upper Silurian type: _Calamopora Gothlandica_, Goldf. _Rhynchonella cuneata_? Dalm. _Cyathophyllum_, sp. 2. Dark earthy limestone, containing multitudes of the _Loxonema M'Clintocki_, as casts--1100 feet above sea-level on North-east Cape. 3. Fine specimens of selenite from shaly beds in cliff. 4. Fibrous gypsum from same.

No. III. GRIFFITH'S ISLAND (Lat. 74° 35' N.; Long. 95° 30' W.).

1. Beautiful specimens of the _Cromus Arcticus_. Pl. VI. Fig. 5, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. 2. _Orthoceras Griffithi._ Pl. V. Fig. 1, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. 3. An Orthoceras with lateral siphuncle, and simple circular outline of septa. 4. _Loxonema Rossi._ Pl. V. Figs. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. 5. Numerous specimens of crinoidal limestone. 6. _Strophomena Donnetti_ (Salter). Sutherland's Voyage; Pl. V. Figs. 11, 12. 7. _Atrypa phoca_ (Salter). Pl. V. Figs. 3, 4, 7, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I.; and a ribbed Atrypa, not identified with European species, and undescribed. 8. An undescribed bryozoan Zoophyte. Pl. VII. Fig. 6, Journ. R. D. S.,Vol. I. 9. _Calophyllum Phragmoceras_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. VI. Fig. 4. 10. _Syringopora geniculata._ 11. An undescribed species of _Macrocheilus_.

No. IV. BEECHEY ISLAND. (Lat. 74° 40' N.; Long. 92° W.).

1. Orthoceras (species). 2. Great multitudes of _Atrypa phoca_, forming, in fact, a dark-colored earthly Atrypa limestone. 3. With these were associated many species of Loxonema, sometimes so abundant as to form a pale pink and whitish Loxonema limestone. 4. A species of ribbed Atrypa. 5. Crinoidal limestone in abundance. 6. _Syringopora reticulata._ 7. _Calophyllum phragmoceras_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. VI. Fig. 4. 8. _Cyathophyllum cæspitosum._ 9. _Cyathophyllum articulatum_ (Edwardes and Haime). 10. _Calamopora Gothlandica._ 11. _Calamopora alveolaris._ 12. _Favistella Franklini_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. VI. Fig. 3. 13. _Clisiophyllum Salteri._ Sutherland; Pl. VI. Fig. 7. 14. _Cyathophyllum_ (species). 15. _Loxonema Salteri_, described by Mr. Slater in Sutherland's 'Voyage to Wellington Channel;' Pl. V. Fig. 19.

This is a fine slab of limestone, almost together composed of the remains of _Loxonema Salteri_ and _Atrypa phoca_. It appears to have been quietly deposited at the bottom of a deep submarine depression, swarming with Pyramidellidæ and deep-water Brachiopoda. The physical conditions indicated by the fossils are also rendered probable by the rock itself, which consists of fine grey limestone, subcrystalline, and intimately blended with the finest and most delicate description of mud, such as could only be found where the water was deep, and all currents far removed.

No. V. CORNWALLIS ISLAND, Assistance Bay (Lat 74° 40' N.; Long. 94° W.).

1. _Orthoceras Ommaneyi_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. V. Figs. 16, 17. 2. _Pentamerus conchidium_ (Dalman). Sutherland; Pl. V. Figs. 9, 10. 3. Pentamerus limestone. 4. _Cromus Arcticus._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. VI. 5. _Cardiola Salteri._ Pl. VII. Fig. 5. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. 6. _Syringopora geniculata._

No. VI. CAPE YORK, Lancaster Sound (Lat. 73° 50' N.; Long. 87° W.).

A specimen of the same fossil coral which I have named, doubtfully, from Beechey Island, as Favosites or _Calamopora Gothlandica_; it is not impossible, however, that it is not a Calamopora at all, but a species of Chætetes.

No. VII. POSSESSION BAY, South entrance into Lancaster Sound (Lat. 73° 30' N.; Long. 77° 20' W.).

Specimens of brown earthy limestone, with a fetid smell when struck with a hammer; resembles closely the limestone of Cape York, Lancaster Sound.

No. VIII. DEPÔT BAY, Bellot Strait (Lat. 72° N.; Long. 94° W.).

1. _Maclurea_ sp. 2. _Cyathophyllum helianthoides_ (Goldfuss).

The limestone at this locality is white and saccharoid, with large rhombohedral crystals of calcspar.

[31]No. IX. CAPE FARRAND, East side of Boothia (Lat. 71° 38'; Long. 93° 35' W.).

1. _Atrypa phoca_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. V. Fig. 3. 2. _Loxonema Rossi._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. V. 3. _Atrypa_ (ribbed sp.) 4. _Calamopora Gothlandica_ (Goldfuss). 5. _Cyrtoceras_ sp.

The rock at this locality is a grey mud limestone.

No. X. WEST SHORE OF BOOTHIA (Lat. 70° to 71° N.), containing the Magnetic Pole.

1. _Atrypa phoca_ (Salter). 2. _Loxonema Rossi._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. V. 3. _Favistella Franklini_ (Salter). Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. XI. 4. _Loxonema Salteri._ Sutherland; Pl. V. Fig. 18.

The cream-colored chalky limestone found on the west side of Prince of Wales' Island here occurs, and is generally destitute of fossils, like that of Prince of Wales' Land.

[32]No. XI. FURY POINT (Lat. 72° 50' N.; Long. 92° W.).

1. _Cromus Arcticus._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. VI. 2. _Maclurea_ sp. 3. _Mya rotundata_ (?). 4. _Stromatopora concentrica._ 5. _Cyathophyllum helianthoides_ (Goldfuss). 6. _Petraia bina._ 7. _Calamopora Gothlandica_ (Goldfuss). 8. _Favosites megastoma (?)._ 9. _Cyathophyllum cæspitosum._ 10. _Favistella Franklini_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. VI. Fig. 3. 11. _Strephodes Austini_ (Salter). Sutherland; Pl. VI. Fig. 6. 12. _Atrypa phoca_ (Salter).

The limestone here is of the same grey earthy aspect as at Beechey Island and Port Leopold.

[33]No. XII. PRINCE OF WALES' LAND (Lat. 72° 38' N.; Long. 97° 15' W.).

1. _Cyathophyllum_ sp. 2. _Calamopora Gothlandica_ (Goldfuss). 3. _Stromatopora concentrica._

These fossils occur in grey earthy limestone, near its junction with the red arenaceous limestone already described.

No. XIII. WEST COAST OF KING WILLIAM'S ISLAND.

1. _Loxonema Rossi._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol I. Pl. V. 2. _Catenipora escharoides._ 3. _Orthoceras_ sp. 4. _Maclurea_ sp. 5. _Atrypa_ sp. 6. _Syringopora geniculata._ 7. _Clisiophyllum_ sp. 8. _Orthis elegantula._

III.--_The Carboniferous Rocks._

The Upper Silurian limestones already described are succeeded by a most remarkable series of close-grained white sandstones, containing numerous beds of highly bituminous coal, and but few marine fossils. In fact, the only fossil shell found in these beds, so far as I know, in any part of the Arctic Archipelago, is a species of ribbed _Atrypa_, which I believe to be identical with the _Atrypa fallax_ of the carboniferous slate of Ireland. These sandstone beds are succeeded by a series of blue limestone beds, containing an abundance of the marine shells commonly found in all parts of the world where the carboniferous deposits are at all developed. The line of junction of these deposits with the Silurians on which they rest is N.E. to E.N.E. (true). Like the former they occur in low flat beds, sometimes rising into cliffs, but never reaching the elevation attained by the Silurian rocks in Lancaster Sound.

The following lists contain the principal fossils and specimens presented to the Royal Dublin Society by Captain M'Clintock and by Captain Sir Robert M'Clure.

Coal, sandstone, clay ironstone, and brown hematite, were found along a line stretching E.N.E. from Baring Island, through the south of Melville Island, Byam Martin's Island, and the whole of Bathurst Island. Carboniferous limestone, with characteristic fossils, was found along the north coast of Bathurst Island, and at Hillock Point, Melville Island.

I have marked on the map the coal-beds of the Parry Islands, which appear to be prolonged into Baring Island, as observed by Captain M'Clure. The discovery of coal in these islands is due to Parry, but the evidence of the extent and quantity in which it may be found was obtained during the expeditions of Austin and Belcher. In addition to the localities surveyed by himself, Captain M'Clintock has given me specimens of the coal found at other places by other explorers; and it is from a comparison of all these specimens that I have ventured to lay down the outcrop of the coal-beds, which agrees remarkably well with the boundary of the formations laid down from totally different data.

No. I. HILLOCK POINT, Melville Island (Lat 76° N.; Long. 111° 45' W.).

_Productus sulcatus._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. VII. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. _Spirifer Arcticus._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX.

No. II. BATHURST ISLAND, North Coast, Cape Lady Franklin (?) (Lat. 76° 40' N.; Long. 98° 45' W.).

_Spirifer Arcticus._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX. Fig. 1. _Lithostrotion basaltiforme._

[34]No. III. BALLAST BEACH, Baring Island (Lat. 74° 30' N.; Long. 121° W.).

1. Wood fossilized by brown hematite; structure quite distinct. 2. Cone of the spruce fir, fossilized by brown hematite.

No. IV. PRINCESS ROYAL ISLANDS, Prince of Wales' Strait, Baring Island (Lat. 72° 45' N.; Long. 117° 30' W.).

1. Nodules of clay ironstone, converted partially into brown hematite. 2. Native copper in large masses, procured from the Esquimaux in Prince of Wales' Strait. 3. Brown hematite, pisolitic. 4. Greyish yellow sandstone, same as Cape Hamilton and Byam Martin's Island. 5. _Terebratula aspera_ (Schlotheim). Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX. Fig. 4.

This interesting brachiopod was found in the limestone by Captain M'Clure, at the Princess Royal Islands, in the Prince of Wales' Strait, between Baring Island and Prince Albert Land. I have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be identical with Schlotheim's fossil, which is found in the greatest abundance at Gerolstein, in the Eifel. Banks Land, or Baring Island, is composed of sandstone, similar to that at Byam Martin's Island, and at the Bay of Mercy. This sandstone contains beds of coal, apparently the continuation of the well-known coal-beds of Melville Island. It is a remarkable fact, that these carboniferous sandstones _underlie_ beds of undoubtedly the carboniferous limestone type, and that at Byam Martin's Island, where fossils are found in this sandstone, they are allied to _Atrypa fallax_ and other forms characteristic of the lower sandstones of the carboniferous epoch. It is, therefore, highly probable that the coal-beds of Melville Island are very low down in the series, and do not correspond in geological position with the coal-beds of Europe, which rest on the summit of the carboniferous beds. It is interesting to find at Princess Royal Island, where, from the general strike of the beds, we should expect to find the Silurian limestone underlying the coal-bearing sandstones, that this limestone does occur, and contains a fossil, _T. aspera_, eminently characteristic of the Eifelian beds of Germany, which form, in that country, the Upper Silurian Strata.

No. V. CAPE HAMILTON, Baring Island (Lat. 74° 15' N.; Long. 117° 30' W.).

1. Greyish-yellow sandstone, like that found _in situ_ in Byam Martin's Island. 2. _Coal._--The coal found in the Arctic regions, excepting that brought from Disco Island, West Greenland, which is of tertiary origin, presents everywhere the same characters, which are somewhat remarkable. It is of a brownish color and ligneous texture, in fine layers of brown coal and jet-black glossy coal interstratified in delicate bands not thicker than paper. It has a woody ring under the hammer, recalling the peculiar clink of some of the valuable gas coals of Scotland. It burns with a dense smoke and brilliant flame, and would make an excellent gas coal; and, in fact, it resembles in many respects some varieties of the coal which has acquired such celebrity in the Scotch and Prussian law-courts, under the title of the Torbane Hill mineral.

No. VI. CAPE DUNDAS, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 30' N.; Long. 113° 45' W.).

Fine specimens of coal.

No. VII. CAPE SIR JAMES ROSS, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 45' N.; Long. 114° 30' W.).

Sandstone passing into blue quartzite.

No. VIII. CAPE PROVIDENCE, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 20' N.; Long. 112° 30' W.).

A specimen of crinoidal limestone, apparently similar to that occurring in Griffith's Island, from which, however, it could not have been brought by the present drift of the floating ice, as the set of the currents is constant from the west. If brought to its present position by ice, it must have been under circumstances differing considerably from those now prevailing in Barrow's Strait. Yellowish-grey sandstone. Clay ironstone passing into pisolitic hematite.

No. IX. WINTER HARBOR, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 35' N.; Long. 110° 45' W.).

Fine yellow and grey sandstone.

No. X. BRIDPORT INLET, Melville Island (Lat. 75° N.;, Long. 109° W.).

Coal, with impressions of Sphenopteris. Ferruginous spotted white sandstone. Clay ironstone, passing into brown hematite.

No. XI. SKENE BAY, Melville Island (Lat. 75° N.; Long. 108° W.).

Bituminous coal, with finely divided laminæ, associated with brown crystalline limestone, with cherty beds, and grey-yellowish sandstone, passing into brownish-red sandstone.

No. XII. HOOPER ISLAND, Liddon's Gulf, Melville Island (Lat. 75° 5' N.; Long. 112° W.).

Nodules of clay ironstone, very pure and heavy, associated with ferruginous fine sandstone and coal of the usual description.

The hill-tops and sides along the south shore of Liddon's Gulf, and as far as Cape Dundas, are generally bare, composed of frozen mud, arising from the disintegration of shale, the annual dissolving snows washing them down and giving them a rounded form. The southern slopes generally support vegetation. Fragments of coal are very frequently met with, and at the mouth of a ravine on the south shore of Liddon's Gulf there is abundance, of very good quality; it contains a considerable quantity of pyrites or bisulphuret of iron.

No. XIII. BYAM MARTIN'S ISLAND (Lat. 75° 10' N.; Long. 104° 15' W.).

Yellowish-grey sandstone, _in situ_, containing a ribbed _Atrypa_, allied to the _A. primipilaris_ of V. Buch, and the _A. fallax_ of the carboniferous rocks of Ireland. Reddish limestone, with broken fragments of shells, of the same description of brachiopod as the last. Coal of the usual description. Fine-grained red sandstone, passing into red slate. Scoriaceous hornblendic trap (boulders).

The sandstone of Byam Martin's Island is of two kinds--one red, finely stratified, passing into purple slate, and very like the red sandstone of Cape Bunny, North Somerset, and some varieties of the red sandstone and slate found between Wolstenholme Sound and Whale Sound, West Greenland, lat. 77° N. The other sandstone of Byam Martin's Island is fine, pale-greenish, or rather greyish-yellow, and not distinguishable in hand specimens from the sandstone of Cape Hamilton, Baring Island. It contains numerous shells and casts of a terebratuliform brachiopod, closely allied to the _Terebratula primipilaris_ of Von Buch, found abundantly at Gerolstein in the Eifel. On the whole, I incline to the opinion that the sandstones, limestone, and coal of Byam Martin's Island, are the corresponding rocks of Melville Island, Baring Island, and Bathurst Island, are low down in the Carboniferous System, and that there is in these northern coal-fields no subdivision into red sandstone, limestone, and coal-measures, such as prevails in the west of Europe. If the different points where coal was found be laid down on a map, we have in order, proceeding from the south-west--Cape Hamilton, Baring Island; Cape Dundas, Melville Island, south; Bridport Inlet and Skene Bay, Melville Island; Schomberg Point, Graham Moore Bay, Bathurst Island; a line joining all these points is the outcrop of the coal-beds of the south of Melville Island, and runs E.N.E. At all the localities above mentioned, and, indeed, in every place where coal was found, it was accompanied by the greyish-yellow and yellow sandstone already described, and by nodules of clay ironstone, passing into brown hematite, sometimes nodular and sometimes pisolitic in structure.

No. XIV. GRAHAM MOORE'S BAY, Bathurst Island (Lat. 75° 30' N.; Long. 102° W.).

Coal of the usual quality.

At Cape Lady Franklin, and at many other localities along the north shore of Bathurst Island, carboniferous fossils in limestone, clay ironstone balls passing into brown hematite, cherty limestone, and earthy fossiliferous limestone, with the same species of _Atrypa_ as at Byam Martin's Island, were found in abundance by Sherard Osborn, Esq., Commander of H.M.S. 'Pioneer,' in whose journal the following note respecting them may be found:--

"The above collection was delivered over to Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C.B., by Commander Richards, at 2 P.M., on 7th Nov. 1853."[35]

It is to be hoped that they may soon be made available for the elucidation of the geology of this most interesting portion of the Arctic discoveries.

No. XV. BATHURST ISLAND, Bedford Bay (Lat. 75° N.; Long. 95° 50' W.).

In this locality abundance of vesicular scoriaceous trap rocks were found by Captain M'Clintock; they appear to me to be the representatives of the volcanic rocks found everywhere at the commencement of the carboniferous period.

No. XVI. CORNWALLIS ISLAND, M'Dougall Bay.

1. _Syringopora geniculata._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. XI. Fig. 2. 2. _Cardiola Salteri._ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. VII. Fig. 5.

The Syringopore found at Cornwallis Island appears to be identical with the variety of the Irish carboniferous _S. geniculata_, in which the corallites are at a distance from each other somewhat exceeding their diameters, and in which the connecting tubes are about two diameters apart.

A question of very considerable geological interest is raised by the occurrence together of corals, in the same locality, of silurian and carboniferous forms.

I entertain no doubt of their being _in situ_, and occurring in the same beds, for the following reasons:--

1st. The Syringopores of Griffith's Island were found at an elevation of 400 feet above the sea, and, therefore, could not be brought by drifting ice.

2nd. The specimens were apparently of the same texture and composition as the native rock, whenever the latter was visible from under the snow.

3rd. I do not believe in the lapse of a long interval of time between the silurian and carboniferous deposits,--in fact, in a Devonian period.

4th. The same blending of corals has been found in Ireland, the Bas Boulonnais, and in Devonshire, where silurian and carboniferous forms are of common occurrence in the same localities.

5th. In the carboniferous beds proper of Melville Island and Bathurst Island, there were not found, so far as I am aware, any corals of the same character as those at Griffith's Island, Cornwallis Island, and Beechey Island, which could give a supply to be drifted to the latter localities in a Pleistocene sea. It is plain, from the height at which the corals were found that, if they were brought to their present localities by ice, it must have been during the period known as Post-tertiary, as the present conditions of drift-ice in Barrow's Straits do not permit us to suppose them to have been placed where we now find them by existing causes.

The occurrence of coal-beds in such high latitudes has been speculated on by many geologists--in my opinion, not very satisfactorily; as it is very difficult to conceive how, even if the question of temperature was settled, plants even of the fern and lycopodium type could exist during the darkness of the long winter's night at Melville Island. This difficulty is increased by the facts made known to us by the discovery of ammonites and lias fossils in Prince Patrick's Island by Captain M'Clintock.

IV.--_The Lias Rocks._

Many years ago it was asserted by Lieutenant Anjou, of the Russian navy, that ammonites had been found by him in the cliffs on the south shore of the island of New Siberia, off the north coast of Asia, in lat. 74° N. This statement, which was published in Admiral Von Wrangel's journal, attracted but little attention, until it was confirmed, as far as probability of such fossils occurring at so high a latitude is concerned, by the remarkable discovery of similar fossils by Captain M'Clintock, in lat. 76° 20' N., at Point Wilkie, in Prince Patrick's Island.

In a paper, published by the Royal Dublin Society, in the first volume of their journal, p. 223, Captain M'Clintock thus describes the finding of these fossils:--

"After returning to Cape de Bray, we took up the provisions that the officer after whom it is called had left for us, and crossed the strait to Point Wilkie; reached it on the 14th May. This traverse was the more difficult from the great load upon our sledge, and the unfavorable state of the ice and snow. The freshly fallen snow was soft and deep, and beneath it the older snow lay in furrows across our route, hardened and polished by the winter gales and drifts, so that it resembled marble.

"On landing I found the beach low, composed of mud, with the foot-prints of animals frozen in it. A few hundred yards from the beach there are steep hills, about 150 feet in height, and upon the sides of these, in reddish-colored limestone, casts of fossil shells abound. Inland of these, the ordinary pale carboniferous sandstone and cherty limestone re-appeared. The fossils are all small, and of only a few varieties, some being ammonites, but the greater part bivalves. They differed from any I had met with before, and the rock was almost brick-red; I picked up what appeared to be fossil bone (_Ichthyosaurus?_), only part of it appearing out of the fragment of the rock.

"Point Wilkie appears to be an isolated patch of liassic age, resting upon carboniferous sandstones and limestones, with bands of chert, of the same age as the limestones and sandstones of Melville Island. The eastern shores of Intrepid Inlet is composed of this formation; while the western, rising into hills and terraces, is of the underlying carboniferous epoch. At the western side of Intrepid Inlet I found upon the ice a considerable quantity of white asbestos, but did not ascertain from whence it had been brought."

The fossils thus found _in situ_, I have no doubt, belong to the liassic period; and as their geological interest is indubitable, I offer no apology for inserting here the following description, written by me on Captain M'Clintock's return to Dublin from his third Arctic expedition.

No. I. WILKIE POINT, Prince Patrick's Land (Lat. 76° 20' N.; Long. 117° 20' W.).

LIAS FOSSILS.

(a) _Ammonites M'Clintocki_ Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX. Figs. 2, 3, 4. _Monotis septentrionalis_, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX. Figs. 6, 7. _Pleurotomaria_, sp. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX. Fig. 8. Cast of some Univalve. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. Pl. IX. Fig. 7. _Nucula_, sp.

(a) Ammonites M'Clintocki (Haughton).--_Testâ compressâ, carinatâ, anfractibus latis, lateribus, complanatis, transversim undato-costatis; costis simplicibus, juxtâ marginem interiorem levigatis; dorso carinato acuto; aperturâ sagittatâ, compressâ, antice carinatâ; septis lateribus 4-lobatis._

This fine ammonite resembles several species common in the upper lias of the Plateau de Larzac, Sevennes, in France. It approaches _A. concavus_ of the lower Oolite, but is distinguished by having only four lobes on the lateral margins of the septa, and by its showing no tendency to a tricarinated keel. The following measurements give an exact idea of its form, as compared with that of the species mentioned:--

------------------+---------+-----------+---------+-----------+-------- |Diameter,| Width of |Thickness|Overlapping| Width |Inches. |last Spire.| of last | of last | of | | Diam.=100 | Spire | Spire |Umbilic. ------------------+---------+-----------+---------+-----------+-------- _A. M'Clintocki_, | 1·83 | 51/100 | 24/100 | 20/100 | 20/100 _A. concavus_, | 2·95 | 50/100 | 24/100 | 19/100 | 16/100 ------------------+---------+-----------+---------+-----------+--------

The principal difference here observable is in the somewhat greater size of _A. concavus_, and the larger umbilic of _A. M'Clintocki_. It certainly resembles this well-known ammonite very closely; and it appears to me difficult to imagine the possibility of such a fossil living in a frozen, or even a temperate sea.

The discovery of such fossils _in situ_, in 76° north latitude, is calculated to throw considerable doubt upon the theories of climate which would account for all past changes of temperature by changes in the relative position of land and water on the earth's surface. No attempt, that I am aware of, has ever been made to calculate the number of degrees of change possible in consequence of changes of position of land and water; and from some incomplete calculations I have myself made on the subject, I think it highly improbable that such causes could have ever produced a temperature in the sea at 76° north latitude which would allow of the existence of ammonites, especially ammonites so like those that lived at the same time in the tropical warm seas of the south of England and France, at the close of the Liassic, and commencement of the lower Oolitic period.

During the course of the same Arctic expedition in which these organic remains were found, Captain Sir Edward Belcher discovered in some loose rubble, of which a cairn was built on Exmouth Island (lat. 77° 12' N., long. 96° W.), vertebral bones of, apparently, same liassic enaliosaurian. All doubt as to the reality of this discovery, and all idea of accounting for the occurrence of such remains by drift, must be abandoned, as the fossils found by M'Clintock were unquestionably _in situ_, and it is impossible to evade the consequences that follow to geological theory from their discovery.

Captain Sherard Osborn, also, found broken vertebræ of an ichthyosaurus, 150 feet up Rendezvous Hill, the north-west extreme of Bathurst Island: of these specimens, one lay among a mass of stone that had slipped from the N.W. face of the hill; the other was by the side of a ravine or deep watercourse on the southern face of the same elevation. I have no doubt but that they were _in situ_.

I am well aware that the question of light in the Arctic seas will be disposed of by some geologists, who will remind us that the saurians, and probably the ammonites, were endowed with a complicated optical apparatus, rendering them capable of using their eyes, not only for the distinct vision of objects differing greatly in distance, but also of using them, under widely differing conditions of light and darkness; and I readily admit the force of such observations.

But what are we to say as to the question of temperature? It was certainly necessary for an ammonite to have a sea free from ice, on which to float and bask in the pale rays of the Arctic sun; and therefore I claim a temperature for those seas, at least similar to that which now prevails in the British Islands: and I may add that the ammonite, from its habits, was essentially dependent on the temperature of the air, as well as on that of the water.

There is at present a difference of 49·5° F. between the mean annual temperature of Point Wilkie and Dublin; and if this change of temperature be supposed to be caused by a change of the relative positions of land and water, the temperature of Dublin, or of some place on the same parallel of latitude, must be supposed to be raised to 99·5° F.; while the temperature of the thermal equator will exceed 124°--a temperature only a few degrees below that requisite to boil an egg! I reject, without scruple, a theory that requires such a result, which must be considered as a minimum; as it is probable that the ammonite required a finer climate than that of Britain for the full enjoyment of his existence.

The theory of central heat, also, appears to me to be open to the same objection, as a mode of explaining this remarkable geological fact; for it will simply add a constant to our present climates, leaving the differences to remain, as at present, to be accounted for by latitude and distribution of land and water. The astronomical theory of Herschel, also, which would account for former changes of climate by changes in the radiating power of the sun, would only increase the temperature at each latitude, leaving the differences as at present.

The only speculation with which I am acquainted, which is capable of solving this _opprobrium geologicorum_, is the hypothesis of a change in the axis of rotation of the earth, the admission of which, as a geological possibility, is mathematically demonstrable, and which has recently had some singular evidence in its favor advanced by geologists. In 1851, I brought forward, at the Geological Society of Dublin, a case of angular fragments of granite occurring in the carboniferous limestone of the County Dublin; and explained the phenomena by the supposition of the transporting power of ice. In 1855, Professor Ramsay laid before the Geological Society of London a full and detailed theory of glaciers and ice as agents concerned in the formation of a remarkable breccia, of Permian age, occurring in the central counties of England; and still more recently the same agent has been employed by the geological surveyors of India to account for the transport of materials at geological periods long antecedent to those in which ice transport is commonly supposed to have commenced. The motion of the earth's axis would reconcile all the facts known, and it must be regarded as a geological desideratum to determine its amount and direction, and to assign the cause of such a movement. The solution of this problem I regard as quite possible.

It is well worthy of remark, that the arguments from the occurrence of coal-plants and ammonites strengthen each other; the coal-plants rendering the question of _light_, and the ammonites that of _heat_, insuperable objections to the admission of any received geological hypothesis to account for the finding of such remains, _in situ_, in latitudes so high as those of Melville Island, Prince Patrick's Island, and Exmouth Island.

V.--_The Superficial Deposits._

The surface of the ground, where exposed, throughout the Arctic Archipelago, does not appear to be covered with thick deposits of clay or gravel, such as are found generally in the north of Europe, and referred by geologists to what they call "the Glacial Epoch." There are not, however, wanting abundant evidences of the transport of drift materials, and there is some good evidence, collected by Captain M'Clintock, of the direction in which the drift was moved.

Specimens of granite, which I have no hesitation in referring to the characteristic granite of the west side of North Somerset, were found at Leopold Harbor (North Somerset) and at Graham Moore Bay (Bathurst Island); one of these localities is N.E. and the other N.W. of the granite of North Somerset, from which I infer that there was no constant prevailing direction for the drift ice that carried these boulders, but that they were transported to the northward in various directions, according to the varying motion of the currents that moved the ice. The boulder of granite at Port Leopold is 100 miles N.E. of the granite which gave origin to it; and the specimens from Graham Moore Bay are 190 miles to the N.W. of their source.

At Cape Rennell (North Somerset), in a direction intermediate between the two former directions, a remarkable boulder of the same granite was found, confirming the general direction of the transporting force from south to north. Its position and size are thus recorded by Captain M'Clintock:--"Near Cape Rennell we passed a very remarkable rounded boulder of gneiss or granite; it was 6 yards in circumference, and stood near the beach, and some 15 or 20 yards above it; one or two masses of rounded gneiss, although very much smaller, had arrested our attention at Port Leopold."

It is well known that Captain Sir Robert M'Clure brought home specimens of pine-trees found in the greatest abundance in the ravines on the west coast of Baring Island; one of his specimens preserved in the museum of the Royal Dublin Society measures 15 inches by 12 inches, and contains three knots that prove it formed a portion of the stem high above its root. The bark is not found on this specimen, which does not represent the full thickness of the tree; I have estimated that this fragment contains 70 rings of annual growth.

Similar remains were found by Captain M'Clintock and Lieutenant Mecham in Prince Patrick's Island, and in Wellington Channel by Sir Edward Belcher. On the coast of New Siberia, Lieutenant Anjou found a clay cliff containing stems of trees still capable of being used as fuel. The original observers all agree in thinking that these trees grew where they are now found; and Captain Osborne, in mentioning Sir Roderick I. Murchison's opinion that they are drift timber, justly adds the remark, that a sea sufficiently free from ice to allow of their being drifted from the south would indicate also a climate sufficiently mild to allow of their having grown upon the land where they now occur. Mr. Hopkins, in his anniversary address as President of the Geological Society of London, has published a remarkable geological speculation, which would account for the facts above mentioned.[36] So far as the evidence of drift boulders is concerned, I have shown that the direction of the currents was from the south; a fact which falls in with the drift theory, so far as it goes.

We cannot, however, dissociate these trees from the facts connected with the distribution of the remains of the Siberian Mammoth in Asia and America. It is now known that this elephant was provided with a warm fur, and that his food was of a kind which grows even now in Northern Siberia; so that the drift theory, which was formerly supposed necessary to account for the occurrence of these remains, has now been quietly dropped, _sub silentio_, by the geologists. Many other drift theories have, in like manner, lived their short day, and gone the way of all false hypotheses; among others, the drift theory of the origin of coal. Further investigation may show that the glacial epoch of Europe was one of a very different character in Asia and America, and that, while glaciers clothed the sides of Snowdon and Lugnaquillia, pine forests flourished in the Parry Islands, and the Siberian elephants wandered on the shores of a sea washed by the waves of an ocean that carried no drifting ice.

There is abundant evidence, however, that the Arctic Archipelago was submerged in very recent geological periods; for we know that subfossil shells, of species that now inhabit the waters of the neighboring seas, are found at considerable heights throughout the whole group of islands. M'Clure found shells of the _Cyprina Islandica_, at the summit of the Coxcomb range, in Baring Island, at an elevation of 500 feet above the sea-level; Captain Parry, also, has recorded the occurrence of _Venus_ (probably _Cyprina Islandica_) on Byam Martin's Island; and in the recent voyage of the 'Fox,' Dr. Walker, the Surgeon of the expedition, found the following subfossil shells at Port Kennedy, at elevations of from 100 to 500 feet:--

1. _Saxicava rugosa._ 2. _Tellina proxima._ 3. _Astarte Arctica_ (Borealis.) 4. _Mya Uddevallensis._ 5. _Mya truncata._ 6. _Cardium_ sp. 7. _Buccinum undatum._ 8. _Acmea testudinalis._ 9. _Balanus Uddevallensis._

At the same place a portion of the palate-bone of a whale (Right Whale) was found at an elevation of 150 feet.

All these facts indicate the former submergence of the Arctic Archipelago, but this submergence must have been anterior to the period when pine forests clothed the low sandy shores of the slowly emerging islands, the remains of which forests now occupy a position at least 100 feet above high-water mark.

The geological map which I am enabled to publish from the data collected by Captains M'Clintock, M'Clure, Osborn, &c., is an enlargement of that which was published in 1857 by the Royal Society of Dublin, to illustrate the fine collection of Arctic fossils and minerals deposited in the museum of that body by Captains M'Clintock and M'Clure. In perfecting it for its present purpose I have availed myself of all the other sources of information within my reach, among which I am bound to mention in particular the excellent Appendix to Dr. Sutherland's 'Voyage of the Lady Franklin and Sophia,' written by Mr. Salter, Palæontologist of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.

Many of the mineral specimens from Greenland, and the fossils from Cape Riley, Cape Farrand, Point Fury and Brentford Bay, were collected by Dr. David Walker, surgeon and naturalist to the 'Fox' Expedition.

FOOTNOTES:

[30] Journal of the Royal Dublin Society, 1857.

[31] Collected by Dr. Walker, surgeon to the 'Fox' Expedition.

[32] Collected by Dr. Walker, surgeon to the 'Fox' Expedition.

[33] Collected by Captain Allen Young.

[34] These specimens are "_Drift_" but are mentioned here as they were found on the carboniferous sandstone area.

[35] _Vide_ Arctic Expeditions, 1854-55, p. 254.

[36] Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. VIII. p. lxiv.

No. V.

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 'FOX' EXPEDITION.

£ s. d. ACLAND, Sir T. D. Bart. 100 0 0 Adams, Dr. Walter, Edinburgh. 3 3 0 Aldrich, Captain, R.N. 1 1 0 Allan, Rob. M., Esq. 1 1 0 Allen, Captain Robert 5 5 0 Allen, Captain, R.N. 2 2 0 Ames, Mrs. 5 0 0 Ames, Miss 1 0 0 Anon. 5 0 0 Armstrong, Mrs. 1 1 0 Armstrong, children of Mrs. 0 8 9 Arnold, Mrs. 1 1 0 Arrowsmith, John, Esq. 5 0 0 Austin, Rear-Adm. Horatio T. R.N., C.B. 5 0 0

BABBAGE, Charles, Esq. 10 0 0 Baikie, Dr. 1 1 0 Baker, Mrs. 5 0 0 Barkworth, Geo., Esq. 5 0 0 Barras, Miss 1 1 0 Barrett, H. J., Esq. 1 0 0 Barrow, John, Esq. 25 0 0 Barstow, Lieutenant, R.N. 1 0 0 Barth, Dr. Henry 5 5 0 Bath, W. J. C., Esq. 0 2 6 Batty, Mrs. J. M. 1 1 0 Beaufort, Rear-Adm. Sir Francis, K.C.B. 50 0 0 Bell, Thos., Esq., Pres. Lin. Soc. 10 10 0 Bennett, John S., Esq. 5 0 0 Birch, J. W. N., Esq. 10 0 0 Bird, Captain, R.N. 5 0 0 Birmingham, small sums collected at Evans' Library 3 1 0 Booth, Mrs. 5 0 0 Borton, Mrs., collected by 1 10 0 Boston, collected at, by Mr. Morton 4 4 0 Bovill, Walter, Esq. 5 0 0 Boyer, Lieut. R.N. 0 10 0 Boyle, the Hon. Carolina C. 1 0 0 Brigg, collected at 1 1 0 Brine, Captain, R.E. 1 1 0 Brooking, J. Holdsworth, Esq. 10 0 0 Brown, Robert, Esq., V.P.L.S. 20 0 0 Brown, John, Esq. 5 5 0 Brown, J. E., Esq., R.N. 0 5 0 Bruce, the Rev. C. 1 1 0 Burgoyne, Captain, R.N. 1 0 0 Burton, Alfred, Esq. 1 1 0 Byron, the Hon. Fred. 5 0 0

CHESNEY, Major-General 2 2 0 Collinson, Captain, R.N., C.B. 20 0 0 Coningham, W., Esq., M.P. 100 0 0 Coote, C. W., Esq. 1 0 0 Coote, Charles, Esq. 10 0 0 Courtauld, Samuel, Esq. 25 0 0 Courtauld, George, Esq. 15 0 0 Coutts, Messrs. & Co. 50 0 0 Crasp, J., Esq., Surgeon, 63rd Regt. 1 0 0 Crauford, John, Esq. 5 0 0 Cresswell, S. Gurney, Commander, R.N. 5 0 0

DALGETY, F. T., Esq. 10 10 0 De la Roquette, M., V.P. of Geog. Soc. of Paris, 1000 fr. 40 0 0 Dilke, C. W., Esq. 5 0 0 Dixon, James, Esq. 10 0 0 Doxat, Alexis J., Esq. 10 10 0 Doxat, Miss H., collected by 4 0 0 "Dubious" 0 2 6 Dufferin, Lord 25 0 0

EDGAR, Mrs., collected by 5 0 0 Ellesmere, the Earl of 15 0 0 Elphinstone, the Hon. Mount-Stewart 10 0 0 Elton, Sir Arthur H., Bart. 5 5 0 Emanuel, Ezekiel, Esq. 1 0 0

FAIRHOLME, the Hon. Mrs. 150 0 0 Filliter, George, Esq. 10 0 0 Fitton, Dr. 21 0 0 Fortescue, Rev. T. F. G. 2 2 0

GARLING, H., Esq. 1 1 0 Gassiot, J. P., Esq. 25 0 0 Gimingham, W., Esq., & Mrs. 2 2 0 Gipps, Lady 5 0 9 Gowen, J. R., Esq. 5 0 0 Graves, Messrs. Pall Mall 1 1 0 Griffiths, G. H., Esq. 5 5 0 Gruneisen, Ch. Lewis, Esq. 1 1 0 Gruneisen, Mrs. 1 1 0 Guillemard, the Rev. W. H. 5 0 0 Guillemard, Miss 1 0 0

HALL, Jas., Esq. 5 0 0 Hanbury, Mrs. 1 1 0 Hardinge, Commander, R.N. 0 10 0 Hardwicke, Philip, Esq. 5 0 0 Harney, Julian, Esq., collected by, at Jersey 50 0 0 Heales, Alfred, Esq. 5 5 0 Herring, Miss 2 2 0 Hicks, John, Esq. 2 0 0 Hill, Col. 63rd Regt. 1 0 0 Hodgson, Mrs. 10 0 0 Holland, Commander, R.N. 5 0 0 Hollingsworth, H., Esq. 2 2 0 Holland, Rob., Esq. 10 10 0 Hooker, Dr. J. D. 5 5 0 Hornby, Miss Georgina 100 0 0 Hornby, the Rev. Edward 25 0 0 Hornby, Mrs. Edmund 5 0 0 Hornby, Miss Georgina, collected by 13 4 0 Hovell, W. H., Esq. 5 5 0 Hughes, Lieutenant, R.N. 2 0 0

INGLIS, Lady 10 0 0 Irby, T. W., Esq. 1 1 0

JACKSON, N. Ward, Esq. 21 0 0 Janson, J. C., Esq. 5 5 0 Jeanes, H. W., Esq., R.N. 0 10 0 Jersey "Times" 2 10 0

KELLETT, Commodore, C.B. 10 0 0 Kendall, Mrs. 1 0 0 Kendall, the Rev. Professor 1 0 0 Key, Lieut., R.N. 0 5 0 King, William, Esq. 5 0 0

LAIRD, Macgregor, Esq. 50 0 0 Laird, John, Esq. 25 0 0 L. and N. W. 1 4 0 Lanford, J., Esq., Quartermaster 63rd Regiment 0 10 0 Langhorne, A., Esq. 1 1 0 Larcom, Mrs. 1 0 0 Leach, William, Esq. 5 5 0 Le Feuvre, W. J., Esq. 50 0 0 Lefroy, C. E., Esq. 2 0 0 Leicester, the Rev. F. 1 1 0 Lethbridge, Lieut., R.N. 0 5 0 "Lochmaben Castle," Owners of the 5 5 0 Lyall, D., Esq., R.N., M.D. 5 0 0

MACKINTOSH, Eneas, Esq. 10 0 0 Maguire, Captain, R.N. 3 3 0 Maitland, Capt. Sir Thos., R.N. 1 0 0 Majendie, Ashhurst, Esq., and Mrs. 100 0 0 Servants of the above 0 14 0 Malby, Messrs. 5 0 0 Malby, Messrs., Workmen in their Establishment by a 6_d._ Subscription 4 11 6 Mansfield, W. H. S., Esq. 0 10 0 Mantell, Dr. A. A. 1 0 0 Markham, Clements, Esq. 1 1 0 Markman, Mrs. 1 0 0 M'Crea, Captain, R.N. 0 10 0 M'Kinlay, Miss 1 0 0 M'Kinlay, Miss Elizabeth 1 0 0 M'William, Dr., R.N. 1 1 0 Merry, W. L., Esq. 1 1 0 Morris, Rev. F. B. 1 0 0 Morris, Sir Armine, Bart. 5 0 0 Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey, G.C.St.S., President of the Royal Geographical Society 100 0 0 Murray, John, Esq. 20 0 0

NARES, Fras., Esq. 2 2 0 Newall, W. L., Esq. 100 0 0 Nicholson, Sir Charles 5 0 0 N. J. 2 2 0 Norwood, collected at, by a Lady 7 15 0

OMMANNEY, Capt. Erasmus, R.N. 2 0 0 Osborn, Sir George, Bart. 1 0 0

PAGET, A. F., Esq. 0 10 6 Paget, C. H. M., Esq. 1 1 0 Palsey, Gen. Sir Charles W., K.C.B. 10 0 0 Second Subscription 10 0 0 Third Subscription 5 0 0 Pattinson, H. L., Esq. 50 9 0 Pearce, Stephen, Esq. 2 2 0 Phillimore, Captain, R.N. 2 2 0 Pigou, Fred., Esq. 10 0 0 Prescott, Vice-Admiral Sir Henry, K.C.B. 5 0 0

RAWNSLEY, the Rev. Drummond 5 0 0 Rawnsley, Mrs., collected by 1 0 0 Rawnsley, William Franklin, collected by, at Uppingham School 0 10 0 Raynsford, Mrs. 1 1 0 Reynardson, H. B., Esq. 5 0 0 Rogers, Lieut., R.N. 1 0 0 Roget, Dr. P. M. 5 0 0 Roper, Geo., Esq. 5 5 0 Ross, Rear-Admiral Sir Jas. C. 21 0 0 Rupert's Land, Bishop of 5 0 0

SABINE, Major-General 25 0 0 Sadler, W. F., Esq. 10 10 0 Sefton, the Countess of 10 0 0 Shearley, W., Esq. 2 0 0 Sheil, Sir Justin 5 0 0 Shewell, John Tulmin, Esq. 5 5 0 Simpson, J., Esq., R.N. 1 10 0 Skey, Dr. 2 2 0 Smith, Eric E., Esq. 2 0 0 Smith, John Henry, Esq. 10 10 0 Smith, Osborn, Esq. 2 2 0 Smith, Archibald, Esq. 5 5 0 Sparrow, Jas., Esq. 5 0 0 St. Asaph, the Bishop of 10 0 0 St. David's, the Bishop of 10 0 0 St. Selger, A. B. 5 0 0 Stainton, J. J., Esq. 3 3 0 Statham, J. L., Esq. 1 1 0 Stephenson, Robert, Esq. 20 0 0 Stirling, Commander, R.N. 0 10 0 Strzelecki, Count P. de 25 0 0 Swinburne, Rear-Admiral 30 0 0 Sykes, Col., M.P. 5 0 0

TAYLOR, William, Esq. 5 0 0 Tennant, James, Esq. 2 0 0 T. H., collected in shillings by 2 0 0 Thackeray, W. M., Esq. 5 0 0 Thompson, J., Esq. 1 1 0 Tindal, Commander, R.N. 2 2 0 Tinney, W. H., Esq., Q.C. 20 0 0 Tite, W., Esq., M.P. 50 0 0 Trevelyan, Sir W. C., Bart. 40 0 0 Trevelyan, Lady 10 0 0 Trevilian, M. C., Esq. 2 2 0 Trollope, Commander, R.N. 2 2 0 Tuckett, Fred., Esq. 5 0 9 Tudor, J., Esq. 0 10 0 Turner, Alfred, Esq. 15 0 0 Tweedie, W. M., Esq. 5 0 0

VINCENT, John, Esq. 1 0 0

WALKER, James, Esq. 21 0 0 Washington, Captain, R.N., Hydrographer of the Navy 21 0 0 Waterfield, Edward, Esq. 5 0 0 Wayse, the Rev. J. W. 5 0 0 Weld, Charles R., Esq. 5 0 0 Wheatstone, Professor 5 0 0 Willes, Hon. Mr. Justice 21 0 0 Wilson, Robert, Esq. 1 1 6 Wittenoom, Mess. 1 1 0 Wodehouse, Commander 0 10 0 Woodcock, J. Parry, Esq. 5 0 0 Worsley, Marcus, Esq. 10 0 0 Wright, the Rev. R. F. 2 2 0 Wrottesley, Lord 50 0 0

YOUNG, Chas. F., Esq. 5 0 0 Young, Miss 5 0 0 Young, A. Verity, Esq. 2 2 0 Yule, Mrs. H. 5 0 0

The brother and sisters of the late John and Thomas Hartnell, of H.M.S. 'Erebus,' buried at Beechey Island 5 0 0 A Commander, R.N. 0 5 0 A Commander in the Merchant Service 500 0 0 A Friend. C. H. 0 5 0 A Friend 1 0 0 The daughters of a retired Commander 2 0 0 A Sympathiser 1 0 0 ----------- £2981 8 9

A life-boat, presented by Messrs. White of Cowes.

A large quantity of preserved potatoes, by Messrs. King, late Edwards.

Apparatus for lowering a boat at sea, presented by Mr. Clifford, the inventor.

Three travelling-tents, by Messrs. Winsor and Newton.

A stove, by Mr. Rettie.

20 dozen "Isle of Wight sauce," by Mr. Tucker of Newport.

Apparatus for reefing topsails, from Mr. Cunningham, the inventor.

End of Project Gutenberg's In the Arctic Seas, by Francis Leopold McClintock