422 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 



commanded by Lieut. Haswell, was directed to proceed 

 to the south-east, following the coast of Prince Albert's 

 Land, toward the land seen north of Dolphin and Union 

 Strait, and named by its discoverer Wollaston Land ; 

 another sledge, under Lieut. Cresswell, was to follow the 

 coast of Banks's Land to the north-west ; whilst the 

 remaining party, with Mr. Wynniatt, was charged with 

 the duty of examining the coast of Albert Land to the 

 north-east, toward Cape Walker. On the 18th April the 

 several parties, with their sledges, left the ship to search 

 for traces of Sir John Franklin and his men. 



They returned, after intervals of from three to seven 

 weeks, but without having found any traces of the miss- 

 ing navigators, or gained any contributions of moment 

 for geographical science. The most important incident 

 seems to have been Lieut. Haswell's encounter with 

 some Esquimaux, who said they had never before cast 

 eyes on a white man. Copper of the purest descrip- 

 tion seemed to be plentiful with them, for all their im- 

 plements were of that metal ; their arrows were tipped 

 with it, and some of the sailors saw a quantity of it in 

 a rough state in one of the tents. M'Clure afterwards 

 had some friendly interviews with these people, in 

 whose decaying prospects he became quite interested. 



As spring advanced, signs of a change began to mul- 

 tiply. First came a seal at the hole in the floe kept 

 open near the ship in case of fire ; then a large polar 

 bear ; and, lastly, hares and ptarmigan. Among the 

 startling narratives of Arctic escapes, few exceed that 

 of Whitfield, one of the hunters, who lost his way in a 

 snow-drift, and was found within a yard of the tent, 

 stiff and rigid as a corpse, his head thrown back, his 

 eyes fixed, his mouth open and filled with snow, his 

 gun slung over his shoulder, and his body being fast 

 buried in a snow-wreath. When happily brought to 



