182 



276 VOYAGE TO THE 



CHAP, it some time, returned to Icy Cape, and found that 



VII J L 



^ ; the edge of the packed ice was in latitude 70^ 41' N. 



Sept. in a N.N.W. direction from the cape, extendmg east 

 and west (true). 



On the 23d August another landing was made upon 

 Icy Cape, and its latitude, by artificial horizon, ascer- 

 tained to be 70° 19' 28" N., and variation by Kater's 

 compass 32° 49' E. Lieutenant Belcher's curiosity 

 was here greatly awakened by one of the natives 

 leading him to a large room used by the Esquimaux 

 for dancing, and by searching for a billet of wood, 

 which his gestures implied had been left by some 

 Europeans, but not finding it, he scrutinized several 

 chips which were in the apartment, and intimated that 

 some person had cut it up. This was very provoking, 

 as Lieutenant Belcher naturally recurred to the possi- 

 bility of Captain Franklin having been there, and 

 after leaving this billet as a memorial, having returned 

 by the same route. Nothing, however, was found, 

 and Lieutenant Belcher, after depositing a notice of his 

 having been there, embarked and passed the night off 

 the Cape in heavy falls of snow, hail, and sleet. The 

 next day he again fell in with ice in latitude 70*^ 40' N. 

 which determined him to stand back to the cape and 

 examine the shoals upon which the ship lost her an- 

 chor the preceding year. 



On the 26th, the ice was again found in 70^ 41' N., 

 and the next day was traced to the E.S.E. to within 

 five or six miles of the land, and at the distance 

 of about twenty miles to the eastward of Icy Cape. 

 The ice appeared to be on its passage to the south- 

 ward, and the bergs were large and scattered. Un- 

 der these circumstances. Lieutenant Belcher, to avoid 

 being beset, stood back to the cape, emd had some 

 dirticultv in maintainins; his station off there, in 



