ELISHA KENT KANE. 57 



edges squeezed up like hummocks, and one floe 

 overrun by another until it all assumed the appear- 

 ance of heavy ice. The vessels received some heavy 

 nips from it ; but they withstood them without in- 

 jury. Whenever a pool of water made its appear- 

 ance, every effort was made to reach it, in hopes 

 that it would lead us into Beechey Island, or some 

 other place where the vessels might be placed 

 in security; for the winter set in unusually early, 

 and the severity with which it commenced forbade 

 all hopes of our being able to return this season. I 

 now became anxious to attain a point in the neigh- 

 borhood from whence, by means of land-parties in 

 the spring, a goodly extent of Wellington Channel 

 might be examined. 



"In the mean time, under the influence of the 

 south wind, we were being set up the channel. On 

 the 18th we were above Cape Bowden, the most 

 northern point seen on this shore by Parry. The 

 land on both shores was seen much farther, and 

 trended considerably to the west of north. To 

 account for this drift, the fixed ice of Wellington 

 Channel, which we had observed in passing to the 

 westward, must have been broken up and driven to 

 the southward by the heavy gale of the 12th. On 

 the 19th the wind veered to the north, which gave 

 us a southerly set, forcing us at the same time with 



