238 CAPE HERSCHEL. Chap. XIV. 



that they make a practice of wandering along the shore 

 in search of seals and bears. 



The remains of those who died in the Fish River may- 

 very probably have been discovered in the summer shortly 

 after their decease : in fact, the Esquimaux report brought 

 home by Dr. Rae does state that the bodies were found 

 before the thaw. 



Along the south coast of King William's Land, as upon 

 the mainland, I was sadly disppointed in my expectation of 

 meeting natives. We found only six or eight deserted snow 

 huts, showing that they had recently been here, and conse- 

 quently there was the less chance of meeting with them on 

 our further progress, as the season had now arrived when 

 they seek the rivers, and the favourite haunts and passes of 

 the reindeer in their northern migration. 



Hobson was however upon the western coast, and I hoped 

 to find a note left for me at Cape Herschel containing some 

 piece of good news. After minutely examining the inter- 

 vening coast-line, it was with strong and reasonable hope I 

 ascended the slope which is crowned by Simpson's con- 

 spicuous cairn. This summit of Cape Herschel is perhaps 

 150 feet high, and about a quarter of a mile within the low 

 stony point which projects from it, and on which there was 

 considerable ice pressure and a few hummocks heaped up, 

 the first we had seen for three weeks. Close round this 

 point, or by cutting across it as we did, the retreating parties 

 must have passed ; and the opportunity afforded by the 

 cairn of depositing in a known position — and that, too, 

 where their own discoveries terminated, including the dis- 

 covery of the North- West Passage — some record of their own 

 proceedings, or, it might be, a portion of their scientific 

 journals, would scarcely have been disregarded. 



Simpson makes no mention of having left a record in this 

 cairn, nor would Franklin's people have taken any trouble 



