228 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



As will be gathered from the above, the observers' duties, while 

 not onerous, were sufficiently varied and responsible to impart variety 

 and purpose to the otherwise necessarily monotonous and depressing 

 round of existence. 



It was intended to place station No. 2 on the lower Savage Islands, 

 at the northern entrance to the strait, and nearly opposite to station 

 No. 1, but a succession of stormy weather prevented success in doing 

 so. The expedition proceeded up the strait to Big Island, North 

 Bluff, where station No. 3 was established, and the place christened 

 Ashe Inlet. The Eskimos in the neighborhood seemed highly delighted 

 at the prospect of having white men near them. Station No. 4 was 

 established at Stupart's Bay, Prince of Wales Sound, across the strait 

 from Ashe Inlet ; station No. 5 at Port de Boucherville, Nottingham 

 Island. Other calls were made at Digges Island, near Cape Wolsten- 

 holme ; at Marble Island, south of Chesterfield Inlet, which was found 

 marked by the presence of nineteen graves and a monument to six 

 other persons who had been drowned ; at Churchill, the future Liver- 

 pool of the region ; at York Factory, the present commercial metropo- 

 lis of the bay, whence, after a stay of only one day, the return journey 

 was taken up. The several stations were visited in turn, and the 

 finishing touches were given to the preparations for the long Arctic 

 winter. A second attempt was made to establish a station on Resolu- 

 tion Island. Two bays were examined, in both of which the vessel 

 ran unwarned immediately from deep soundings upon the rocks, and 

 the idea was given up. Finally, the Neptune arrived at Port Burwell, 

 on the 27th of September, where, as at all the other stations, it found 

 the observers well, pleased with their work, and satisfied with their 

 provisioning. Thence the expedition returned to St. John's, New- 

 foundland, where the Neptune was given up to her owner, while the 

 men took passage for Halifax. 



The course of this expedition having thus been briefly outlined, 

 it now remains to examine into the results so far as they have been 

 detailed, and consider their bearing upon the important problem sought 

 to be solved ; and, first of all, with regard to the navigation of Hudson 

 Strait and Bay. The ice has hitherto been supposed to be the most 

 formidable barrier to the navigation of these waters, but Lieutenant 

 Gordon assures us that under investigation its terror very largely dis- 

 appears. The ice' met with during the cruise of the Neptune could be 

 divided into three classes each class having a distinctly separate ori- 

 gin namely, icebergs from the glaciers of Fox Channel, heavy Arctic 

 ice from the channel itself, and ordinary field-ice, being that formed 

 on the shores of the bay and strait. No icebergs were encountered 

 in Hudson Bay, nor were any reported as having been seen there in 

 the past ; but in the strait a good many were seen, principally along 

 the northern shore, where a number were stranded in the coves, while 

 others were met with in mid-channel. Of those seen in the eastern 



