SLEDGING PARTIES. 325 



Melville Island to the north-east, he entered Liddon 

 Gulf, and here saw fragments of coal of good quality. 

 Leaving the shore, he crossed the gulf to gain Bushman 

 Cove, where Parry, in his journey across the island, in 

 1820, had left the " strong but light cart,' 3 in which he 

 had carried his tent and stores. On the 1st of June 

 M'Clintock reached the west point of the cove, and, 

 leaving two men to prepare supper, he commenced a 

 search, with four others, for Parry's encampment of the 

 lllh of June, 1820: 



" On reaching the ravine leading into the cove/' he 

 says, " we spread across, and walked up, and easily 

 found the encampment, although the pole had fallen 

 down. The very accurate report published of his jour- 

 ney saved us much labor in finding the tin cylinder and 

 ammunition. The crevices between the stones piled over 

 them were filled with ice and snow ; the powder com- 

 pletely destroyed, and cylinder eaten through with rust, 

 and filled with ice. From the extreme difficulty of 

 descending into such a ravine with any vehicle, I sup- 

 posed that the most direct route, where all seemed 

 equally bad, was selected ; therefore sent the men di- 

 rectly up the northern bank, in search of the wheels 

 which were left where the cart broke down. They 

 fortunately found them at once ; erected a cairn about 

 the remains of the wall built to shelter the tent ; placed 

 a record on it, in one tin case within another. We then 

 collected a few relics of our predecessors, and returned 

 with the remains of the cart to our encampment. An 

 excellent fire had been made with willow stems ; and 

 upon this a kettle, containing Parry's cylinder, was 

 placed. As soon as the ice was thawed out of it, the 

 record it contained was carefully taken out. I could 

 only just distinguish the date. Had it been in a better 



