Aug. 1859. HOBSON'S JOURNEY. 299 



meat diet, scurvy advanced with rapid strides. And here 

 let me observe that amongst all the relics of the ill-fated 

 expedition no preserved meat or vegetable tins were found, 

 either about the cairns or along the line of retreat ; the 

 inference is as plain as it is painful ! 



His diary states that, after leaving me at Cape Victoria, 

 "no difficulty was experienced in crossing James Ross 

 Strait. The ice appeared to be of but one year's growth ; 

 and although it was in many places much crushed up, we 

 easily found smooth leads through the lines of hummocks ; 

 many very heavy masses of ice, evidently of foreign forma- 

 tion, have been here arrested in their drift ; so large are 

 they, that in the gloomy weather we experienced, they were 

 often taken for islands." 



Again, at Cape Felix, he observes — " The pressure of the 

 ice is severe, but the ice itself is not remarkably heavy in 

 character; the shoalness of the coast keeps the line of 

 pressure at a considerable distance from the beach : to the 

 northward of the island the ice, as far as I could see, was 

 very rough, and crushed up into large masses." Here we 

 notice the gradual change in the character of the ice as 

 Hobson left the Boothian shore and advanced towards 

 Victoria Strait. The " very heavy masses of ice, evidently 

 of foreign formation," had drifted in from the vast Polar Sea 

 westward of Prince Patrick's Island, through M'Clure Strait ; 

 Victoria Strait contained a large proportion of this character; 

 and Hobson's description of the ice he passed over clearly 

 illustrates how Franklin, leaving comparatively clear water 

 behind him, had to press his ships into the pack when he 

 attempted to force through Victoria Strait. 



Some description of this polar pack is necessary in order 

 to convey any idea of it. Parry first met with it in 1819, 

 near the western extreme of Melville Island, where it 

 terminated his progress. He speaks of the floe-pieces as 



