124 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 



storm subsided. They then, at the imminent risk of 

 having the canoes crushed by the floating ice, doubled 

 the dreary promontory, which they denominated Cape 

 Barrow, and entered Detention Harbor, where they 

 landed. Around them the land consisted of mountains 

 of granite, rising abruptly from the water's edge, desti- 

 tute of vegetation, and attaining an elevation of four- 

 teen or fifteen hundred feet ; seals and small deer were 

 the only animals seen, and the former were so shy that 

 all attempts to approach within shot were unsuccessful. 



With the deer the hunters were more fortunate, but 

 these were not numerous ; and, while the ice closed 

 gradually around them, and their little stock of pro- 

 visions every day diminished, it was impossible not to 

 regard their situation with uneasiness. Rounding Cape 

 Kater, they entered Arctic Sound, and sent a party to 

 explore a river upon the banks of which they expected 

 to find an Esquimaux encampment. All, however, was 

 silent, desolate, and deserted ; even these hardy na- 

 tives, bred amidst the polar ices, had removed from so 

 barren a spot, and the hunters returned with two small 

 deer and a brown bear, the latter animal so lean and 

 sickly-looking that the men declined eating it ; but the 

 officers boiled its paws, and found them excellent. 



Proceeding along the eastern shore of Arctic Sound, 

 to which they gave the name of Banks's Peninsula, the 

 expedition made its painful way along a coast indented 

 by bays, and in many places studded with islands, till, 

 on the 10th of August, they reached the open sea ; and 

 Bailing, as they imagined, between the continent and a 

 large island, found, to their deep disappointment, that, 

 instead of an open channel, they were in the centre of a 

 vast bay. 



The state of the expedition now called for the most 

 serious consideration upon the part of their commander. 



