222 JOURNEY CONTINUED. Chap. XIII. 



might have been wounded — they had discovered how to 

 cock the locks, and the pistols were loaded and capped. 



Oo-na-lee was well acquainted with the coast-line up to 

 Bellot Strait, and had names for the different headlands, 

 although he had never been so far north. He made many 

 enquiries about the position of our ship, her size, and the 

 number of men. Had he been able to travel so far with his 

 wife and several young children, and without sledge or dogs, 

 I think he certainly would have gone up to Port Kennedy ; 

 but we did not give him any encouragement to do so. His 

 wife was one of the most importunate of the many women 

 we saw at Cape Victoria in March. She was the woman 

 who plucked out an infant by its arm from inside her dress, 

 and exposed it regardless of temperature, — 30 , and a fresh 

 wind, as already related. 



The information respecting both the missing ships was 

 most important, and it remained for us to discover, if pos- 

 sible, the stranded ship. 



Continuing our journey, we crossed a wide bay upon level 

 ice, and the most perfectly smooth hard snow I ever saw ; 

 there must have been much open water here late last 

 autumn. Seven or eight snow huts, recently abandoned, 

 were found near the Magnetic Pole. During the 25th, 

 26th, and 27th we were confined to our tents by a very 

 heavy south-east gale, with severe cold. During the gale it 

 was very cold in our little tent, and the steam from our 

 pemmican and tea, together with the moisture of our breath, 

 condensed in considerable quantity on the inside, so that 

 each flap caused a shower of fine snow to fall over us, 

 penetrating and wetting our blanket bags. Early on the 

 28th we reached Cape Victoria; here Hobson and I 

 separated. He marched direct for Cape Felix, King 

 William's Land, whilst I kept a more southerly course. 

 Not daring to leave depots upon this coast, we carried on 



