PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 



ship during your absence, and as may promise 

 a ready egress to her at the close of the season, 

 when your operations have terminated, and when 

 the young ice may be expected to form. In 

 this point of view, the position, and the small 

 comparative depth of Repulse Bay, would appear 

 to offer an easier and more speedy egress. 



" The officer left in charge of the Terror is to 

 receive from you specific orders, not only as to 

 his general proceedings while you are away, but 

 as respects his intercourse with the natives, as 

 well as the series of observations he is to record, 

 and the mode in which he is to conduct a survey 

 of the inlet, including the neighbouring lakes, 

 its accessory rivers, if any, a continued register 

 of the times and heights of the tides at high and 

 low water, and the elevation and geological 

 character of the adjacent hills. You will com- 

 municate to him the probable period of your 

 absence, and you will arrange with him a few 

 signals, by means of a gun fired in the stillness 

 of night, at a precise hour, or by rockets or 

 flashes, some of which may eventually be of great 

 importance in cases where assistance may be 

 required. Lastly, you will give him directions 

 how to act, should any misfortune befall yourself 

 and the other detached parties ; and in the con- 

 templation of such an event, which may retard 

 the return of the parties about the period fixed 



