548 MORE DISCOVERIES 



A vast quantity of clothing and stores of all sorts lay 

 strewed about, as if here every article was thrown away 

 which could possibly be dispensed with : pickaxes, shov- 

 els, boots, cooking utensils, iron-work, rope, blocks, 

 canvas, a dip circle, a sextant engraved " Frederic 

 Hornby, R. N.," a small rnedicine-chest, oars, &c. 



A few miles southward, across Back Bay, a second 

 record was found, having been deposited by Lieut. Gore 

 and M. Des Vceux, in May, 1847. It afforded no addi- 

 tional information. 



Lieut. Hobson continued his journey southward along 

 the western shore of King William's Land, but made no 

 further discovery until he reached lat. 69 9' N., and 

 long. 99 2T W., when he noticed what appeared to be 

 two sticks peering above the frozen snow. Struck with 

 their singularity in this barbarous region, he was led to 

 examine them more closely, and was rewarded by find- 

 ing that these " sticks " were in fact the awning stanch- 

 eons of a boat buried in the snow ; and on clearing 

 around it, the ghastly spectacle of two human skeletons 

 presented itself. One of these lay in the after part of 

 the boat, under a pile of clothing ; the other, which was 

 much more disturbed, probably by animals, was found 

 in the bow. Five pocket watches, a quantity of silver 

 spoons and forks, and a few religious books, were also 

 found, but no journals, pocket-books, or even names 

 upon any articles of clothing. Two double-barreled 

 guns stood upright against the boat's side, precisely 

 as they had been placed eleven years before. One bar- 

 rel in each was loaded and cocked. There was ammu 

 nition in abundance, also thirty or forty pounds of choc- 

 olate, and some tea and tobacco. Fuel was not want- 

 ing ; a drift tree lay within a hundred yards of the boat. 

 It appears that this boat had been intended for the 

 ascent of the Fish River, but was abandoned apparently 



