118 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. 



both which occasions the temptation to steal from us was, 

 perhaps, stronger than we can well imagine, and the oppor- 

 tunity of doing so by no means wanting, not a single in- 

 stance occurred, to my knowledge, of their pilfering the 

 most trifling article. It is pleasing to record a fact no less 

 singular in itself than honourable to these simple people." 

 —p. 287. 



Nothing material occurred on their way across 

 the Atlantic till the afternoon of the 26th of October, 

 when they struck soundings in seventy fathoms in 

 latitude 59° 55'. On the 28th they were between 

 Fair Island and the Orkneys; on the 29th made 

 Buchaness, and on the following day the Com- 

 mander landed at Peterhead, accompanied by 

 Captain Sabine and Mr. Hooper, who proceeded 

 without delay to London, where they arrived on 

 the morning of the 3rd of November, 1820. 



" Such was the excellent state of health which we at this 

 time continued to enjoy on board the Hecla, that during the 

 whole season of our late navigation from Winter Harbour 

 to the coast of Scotland, being a period of thirteen weeks, 

 not a single case had been entered on our sick-list, except 

 from one or two accidents of a trifling nature ; and I had 

 the happiness of seeing every officer and man on board both 

 ships (with only one exception out of ninety-four persons) 

 return to their native country in as robust health as when 

 they left it, after an absence of nearly eighteen months, 

 during which time we had been living entirely on our own 

 resources." — p. 309. 



It is not intended here to enter into any detail of 



the observations made during the voyage, nor of 



the scientific operations carried on whenever an 



