﻿1848. CAPE HEARNE. 297 



Bay, on which the sea ice rested, barring our further 

 progress on its outside. On the former voyage, 

 this island was thought to be part of the main 

 shore ; but on ascending to its summit, which rises 

 about three hundred feet above the sea, we dis- 

 covered its insular nature, and perceived that the 

 ice within it was not only smoother, but lay less 

 compactly. We therefore took that direction, and 

 found that the inlet runs about five miles behind 

 the island into a narrow valley, bounded by hills 

 between three and four hundred feet high. 



In the afternoon we reached Cape Hearne, and 

 ascended its high grounds to look to seaward, from 

 whence we beheld the same impacted floes of ice to 

 which we had of late been accustomed. The cliffs of 

 this cape are composed of a shingly or slaty lime- 

 stone, and the beach presents much greenish slate- 

 clay, which breaks down like wacke, and becomes 

 brown on the surface, but its relations to the lime- 

 stone in respect to position could not be made out. 

 The extreme point of the cape is low and sandy ; 

 and the country lying immediately to the southward 

 of the limestone ridge, that constitutes the high 

 grounds of the promontory, is flat, grassy, and 

 marshy, forming a fine feeding ground for rein-deer, 

 of which we saw several herds. A considerable 

 stream winds through the plain, and enters the sea 

 about two miles to the southward of the cape. Its 

 mouth, which is barred by a sand-bank, is marked 



