250 ARCTIC SEAS. 



They now approached a large cairn, originally built by 

 Simpson in 1839, and where, as it must have been 

 passed by the last crews, they eagerly anticipated finding 

 some record ; but a careful search proved wholly fruitless, 

 and from the appearance of the cairn, they were led to 

 believe that it had already been examined and rifled 

 by the Eskimos. Twelve miles further, however, they 

 came upon a cairn built by Hobson's party, who had 

 reached the same point a few days before, and in which 

 was deposited a note, announcing the discovery of the 

 record so ardently sought, under a third cairn, still 

 further to the south, and on the site of one formerly built 

 by Sir James Ross. 



" There is an error in this document," says Captain 

 M'Clintock ; " namely, that the Erebus and Terror 

 wintered at Beechey Island in 1846-7 ; the correct 

 dates should have been 1845-6. A glance at the date at 

 the top and bottom of the record proves this, but in all 

 other respects the tale is told in as few words as possible 

 of their wonderful success up to that date, May, 

 1847 



" Seldom has such an amount of success been accorded 

 to an Arctic navigator in a single season, and when the 

 Erebus and Terror were secured at Beechey Island for 

 the coming winter of 1845-6, the results of their first 

 year's labour must have been most cheering. These 

 results were the exploration of Wellington and Queen's 

 Channel, and the addition to our charts of the extensive 

 lands on either hand. In 1846 they proceeded to the 



