434 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 



fell to 19, so that the whole aspect was cheerless in 

 the extreme. The young- ice was two and a half inches 

 thick, so that the whole bay might be safely perambu- 

 lated. Indeed, the summer was fairly gone, for the 

 uplands were all snow-covered, the wild-fowl all de- 

 parted, and the flowers, which gave cheerful variety to 

 this bleak land, were all withered. The very season 

 might be considered as one long, sunless day, as since 

 the latter part of May the great luminary had been 

 scarcely visible, or his influence scarcely felt upon those 

 icy masses which block Barrow's Strait entirely across ; 

 nor do I imagine that the Polar Sea had broken up that 

 season, as not a drop of water had been seen in that 

 direction. 



" During July, and the early part of August, the 

 crew were daily employed gathering sorrel, of which 

 there was a great quantity upon the hills in this vicinity. 

 Eaten as a salad, with vinegar, or boiled, when it 

 resembled spinach, it was found a most admirable anti- 

 scorbutic, and a great benefit to all, being exceed- 

 ingly relished ; but this hardy and miserable herbage 

 could not withstand the rigorous summer beyond the 

 15th of the month. 



" For several days the ice had been perfectly station- 

 ary } and no water visible in any direction, that along 

 the cliffs of Banks's Land being frozen ; so that I felt 

 assured that the winter had fairly set in, and all hopes 

 of any release this year were totally annihilated, the 

 young ice being five inches thick. Having previously 

 determined what course I should adopt under circum- 

 stances thus unfavorable, upon the 8th of September I 

 announced my intentions to the crew of sending half of 

 them to England next April, with all the officers not in 

 charge of stores, via Baffin's Bay (taking the boat from 

 Cape Spencer) and the Mackenzie, detaining the re- 



