350 THE JOURNEY EN'DED. 



the land upon which I stood, culminating in the dis- 

 tant cape before me, was but a point of land projecting 

 far into it, like the Ceverro Vostochnoi Noss of the 

 opposite coast of Siberia ; and that the little margin 

 of ice which lined the shore was being steadily worn 

 away ; and within a month, the whole sea would be 

 as free from ice as I had seen the north water of 

 Baffin Bay, — interrupted only by a moving pack, 

 drifting to and fro at the will of the winds and cur- 

 rents. 



To proceed further north was, of course, impossible. 

 The crack which I have mentioned would, of itself, 

 have prevented us from making the opposite land, 

 and the ice outside the bay was even more decayed 

 than inside. Several open patches were observed 

 near the shore, and in one of these there was seen a 

 flock of DoveJcie. At several points during our march 

 up Kennedy Channel I had observed their breeding- 

 places, but I was not a little surprised to see the birds 

 at this locality so early in the season. Several bur- 

 gomaster-gulls flew over head, making their w^ay 

 northward, seeking the open water for their feeding 

 grounds and summer haunts. Around these haunts 

 of the birds there is never ice after the early days of 

 June. 



And now my journey was ended, and I had nothing 

 to do but make my way back to Port Foulke. The 

 advancing season, the rapidity with which the thaw 

 was taking place, the certainty that the open water 

 was eating; into Smith Sound as well throu^-h Baffin 

 Bay from the south, as through Kennedy Channel 

 from the north, thus endangering my return across 

 to the Greenland shore, warned me that I had lin- 

 gered long enough. 



