462 BELCHER'S EXPEDITION 



and tabular slabs, which no single person could carry 

 It consisted of about forty courses, eight feet in diam- 

 eter, and eight feet in depth, when cleared, but only 

 five in height from the base of the upper cone as we 

 opened it. 



" Most carefully was every stone removed, every 

 atom of moss or earth scrutinized ; the stones at the 

 bottom also taken up ; but without finding a trace of 

 any record, or of the structure having been used by 

 any human being. It was filled by drift snow, but did 

 not in any respect bear the appearance of having been 

 built more than a season. This was named ' Mount 

 Discoverv.' " 



t> 



A short time afterwards he writes: "Leaving our 

 crew, pretty well fatigued, to pitch the tent and pre- 

 pare the customary pemmican meal, I ascended the 

 mountain above us, and discovered that we really were 

 not far from our old position of last year, on Cape 

 Hogarth, and had Cape Majendie and Hamilton Island 

 to the west, about twenty miles. 



" My surprise, however, was checked suddenly by 

 two structures rather in European form, and apparently 

 graves ; each was similarly constructed, and, like the 

 dome, of large selected slabs, having at each end three 

 separate stones, laid as we should place head and foot 

 stones. So thoroughly satisfied was I that there was 

 no delusion, I desisted from disturbing a stone until it 

 should be formally done by the party assembled. 



"The evening following for where the sun is so 

 oppressive to the eyes by day we travel by night we 

 ascended the hill, and removed the stones. Not a trace 

 of human beings ! ' 



Thus Belcher and his men travelled about during the 

 whole season, exploring the coasts around Wellington 

 Channel, now on foot, and then in boats, as circum- 



