272 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 



white bear, which roamed there in numbers and of which they were 

 in great fear, telling several tales of its ferocity. 



Upon the interpreter explaining how the white men's rifles 

 could kill the bears, the chief at once invited him to come and live 

 with them, offering as inducements his own daughter, a pleasant- 

 looking girl of about fifteen, a fully furnished tent, and all the other 

 necessary possessions of a well-to-do Eskimo. Failing in that, they 

 invited the explorers to a feast of roast whale and venison, salmon, 

 blubber, and other delicacies; but instead of taking these, the ex- 

 plorers presented them with a number of gifts, and left them on the 

 best of terms. 



A few days later another small band was encountered farther 

 along the coast, one of whom was wearing a brass button in his ear. 

 The button was off a sailor's jacket, and upon being asked how he 

 obtained it, the man replied it had been taken from a white man who 

 had been killed by the tribe. He was asked for further particulars, 

 in case the unfortunate might turn out to be one of Franklin's men. 

 The Eskimo replied that it might have been done a year ago or when 

 he was a child, but the huts the white men had built were still 

 standing. The explorers at once persuaded him to take them to the 

 spot, but on arrival they found the huts so weather-worn and over- 

 grown with moss that more than a generation must have passed 

 since they were built. 



Winter was now setting in, and as there was no suitable harbor 

 at hand, Captain McClure determined to pass the season amongst 

 the ice-floes. His decision was largely due to the fact that as the 

 ice was forming around them, a great mass of old ice, over six miles 

 in length and drifting at the rate of two miles an hour, came upon 

 them. Its enormous weight crushed everything out of its way, and 

 the ship could only manoeuvre sufficiently to graze it with her star- 

 board bow. Fortunately on the other side of her there was only 

 freshly formed and comparatively thin ice, otherwise she would 

 have been hopelessly crushed at once. As it was, the gradual drift- 

 ing past of the mass was disconcerting, and it was decided to make 



