286 TRACES OF OUR VISIT. Chap. XVII. 



of other bones, all more or less buried in the soil, and much 

 heavier than the bones of a recent animal ; they lay within 

 40 or 50 yards of each other, and upon a little flat patch of 

 rather rich earth, a rocky hill above, and steep slope below ; 

 they are also nearly a mile inland. 



When did the skeletons of these whales drift to their 

 present positions ? When did the forest trees grow in 

 Baring's and Prince Patrick's Land, many of which are still 

 fit for firewood ? And when were the lofty table-lands of 

 North Devon and North Somerset scored by these immense 

 ravines, broad and deep, with sides almost perpendicular, 

 and rocky beds sometimes a hundred yards wide, where no 

 rivers now exist, nor even streamlets, except during the few 

 weeks of summer's thaw ? Will geology ever solve these 

 enigmas ? 



Of the traces which we have left behind us, the most 

 considerable are the graves of our two shipmates within the 

 western point of our little harbour; they were tastefully 

 sodded round, and planted over with the usual arctic 

 flowers. There is our record in a conspicuous cairn at the 

 west point of Depot or Transition Bay : we left also three 

 cases of pemmican near the east end of Macgregor Laird 

 Lake, and our travelling boat near its west end, at the head 

 of False Strait, but she is damaged, a bear having put his 

 paw through her thin planking. 



Monday, 15///. — Strong east winds, with much rain, have 

 imprisoned us here for the last four days, and driven the 

 whole pack close in, completely filling up Cresswell Bay. 

 We remain fast to the grounded ice, which shields us from 

 pressure, otherwise we should have been irretrievably driven 

 on shore. A couple more seals and a white whale have 

 been shot; the latter measured 13A feet long, and proved 

 to be a female of ordinary dimensions, and of an uniform 

 cream colour ; the eyes are extremely small, and orifices of 



