A CAIRN ERECTED. 49 



middle of the island two or three points of the land bore 

 southwest by west deceptively. In shape the island is 

 something like a boot, with a depression at the instep. In 

 the extreme west were seen a number of jagged peaks and 

 splintered pinnacles of granite, some of them resembling 

 giant remains of ancient sculpture, all worse for exposure 

 to the weather." 



The island was searched carefully for traces of the miss- 

 ing ships, but none were found, or anything to indicate that 

 the island had ever before been visited. The only signs of 

 life seen, excepting the birds, were a small fox and a polar 

 bear. On a high promontory, at the northeast point, a 

 cairn was erected, in which was placed a bottle containing 

 written information and a copy of the New York Herald. 



After leaving Herald Island, July 31st, the Corwin cruised 

 for several days off the coast of Wrangel Land, following 

 along the edge of the ice-pack, running into leads, and trying 

 to reach the land, but never being able to approach nearer 

 than twenty miles. As it was impossible to effect a landing 

 until there was a decided change in the condition of the ice, 

 Hooper withdrew southerly, moving through floating ice, and 

 reached the mouth of Wankerem River, on the Siberian 

 coast. While skirting along the coast they fell in with a 

 number of wandering Yoraks, who had herds of reindeer. 



The 10th of August found the explorers again on the edge 

 of the ice-pack, off the south end of Wrangel Land. On the 

 evening of the llth they entered a lead, and had approached 

 to within eight miles of land, when a dense fog stopped fur- 

 ther progress. The next morning, after squeezing through 

 heavy ice for two hours, they reached a small space of open 

 water, and anchored about three hundred feet from the 

 beach. The cutter was lowered, and Captain Hooper, Lieu- 

 tenant Reynolds, Engineer Owen, and others started for the 

 shore. 



The party landed, and looked anxiously around for traces 

 of the missing seamen, but they looked in vain ; their own 

 4 



